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The last time Hamilton three-wheeled to victory

Lewis Hamilton's triumph in the British Grand Prix despite a last-lap puncture is currently a unique moment in his Formula 1 career. But there was also a race from 2003 where, aged 18, he pulled off another seemingly-impossible feat

Alex Kalinauckas Aug 5, 2020, 3:31 PM

"It was almost impossible to drive," said Lewis Hamilton. "It was so hard."

He'd dominated the race, moved himself into a firm championship lead, and had done so with a damaged car. But this wasn't the 2020 British Grand Prix and Hamilton wasn't driving a Mercedes W11.

This was the opening race of the 2003 Formula Renault 2.0 UK championship at Croft.

"There was a race when I was in Formula Renault, at Croft," Hamilton recalled after he'd hustled his hobbled Mercedes through a dramatic final tour to take victory in last weekend's race at Silverstone.

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Author Alex Kalinauckas

Alex Kalinauckas is Autosport's Grand Prix Editor, covering every Formula 1 race since the start of 2020. After completing a master's degree in journalism at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014, he worked for a range of motorsport and technology publications while covering national racing as an Autosport freelancer.

A lifelong motorsport fan - no one in his family can explain quite how or why such a development first occurred - Alex joined the Autosport staff in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3, before being made Formula E correspondent and Autosport.com’s Plus Editor in March 2018. He lives in north-east London and is constantly frustrated by the Central Line.