Lewis Hamilton Q&A

"It was great. I was very quick in testing, and adapted to the track quite well, so I knew in the races I would just have to be consistently fast. I wanted to win, but I also wanted to make it good for the spectators, so I held back in second place for a little while before coming through. It wasn't really that hard to win."


"I wouldn't say that I get that nervous - although I do feel like I need to the toilet when I get on the grid! But when I looked up and saw the huge crowd at Paris, I have to admit I was shaking a bit before the start. It was more difficult to race in front of that many people, because I didn't want to make any mistakes, but it was a great experience. Now I've done it, next time it will be easy!"


"Besides the Elf Masters at the weekend, I had three highlights this season. Contesting my first World Championship, although I didn't win it, was a great experience. I'm confident I would have won that race if it wasn't for an engine problem. To win all four rounds of the European Championship in my first year of Formula A, which is regarded as the toughest category except Formula Super A, was unbelievable. Everything was new to me, and we were expecting so much competition, but I think I just about won every race I started this year, apart from a couple of races I did in the Italian Championship. Finally, the World Cup [in Suzuka] was fantastic. Japan was nothing like I expected it to be, and the people were so nice and enthusiastic. They seem to look at racing in a different way - they're just more into it than people in Europe."


"There's no point staying in Formula A now, so I want to achieve even more in Formula Super A next year. Next year I'll be racing against people like [Gianluca] Beggio, [Davide] Fore and [Sauro] Cesetti. Those are the top drivers in karting and they have much more experience than me. But I'm looking forward, because it will be really, really good to race against them."


"Definitely, because it's going to be very difficult and I'm going to have to put everything I've learned this year together. Fore has won just about everything this year and he's going to be very hard to beat. After the weekend [Fore was beaten by Hamilton on Saturday], I think he's got a lot of respect for me, because he knows I'm quick, I'm fast and I'm consistent. So I won't go into races worrying that he's going to knock me off or anything like that. But I'm well aware that Fore, and the rest, will play mind games with me, so I'm ready for that and I'm going to stay focused on beating them."


"My dad keeps in touch with him and sends him faxes about my results every weekend, but sometimes Ron phones up to see how I've done. I spoke to Ron at meeting a couple of weeks ago - it's a great link to have this early in my career."


"One or two years now. If next year goes well, then I'll be in cars sooner rather than later - I'm keeping my fingers crossed!"


"When I've finished in karts, we'll ask Ron Dennis which way to go, and we'll follow his decision. He's told me he doesn't want me to be the youngest driver in Formula 1 or anything like that, he wants me to develop and progress when I'm ready. If it takes me six or seven years, then no problem. There's no point in jumping categories if you're not ready. Jenson was very fortunate to jump from F3 to F1, but I'd be looking at staying in F3 for two years. Then again, if I did what Jenson did in F3, I'd want to move up anyway. There's no point staying in a class when you're a proven winner. At the moment, I see my path as starting in Formula Ford or Formula Renault, then going via F3 and F3000 to F1."