The Young Drivers: No.7 - Jamie Green

Where were they then?

Jamie Green was quite a late starter in cars at the age of 20. He entered his first season of car racing in Formula Renault in 2002 and took two wins and five more podiums in the 13 races. Although the experienced Danny Watts won the title, Green beat Lewis Hamilton to the runner-up spot and earned himself a place in the final of the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award...

This is what Autosport magazine wrote about him at the time

Sunday night capped a remarkable year for Jamie Green. In the course of 2002, the 20-year-old has gone from being a virtual unknown in the circuit racing world to being the name on everyone's lips.

A brief summary of Green's year includes: stepping up from karts to car racing - and making a very decent fist of it - scoring second in the Formula Renault UK Championship behind Fortec Motorsport teammate Danny Watts; taking the next step up the single-seater ladder to Formula 3 and winning many fans in his Korea Super Prix exploits; and now winning the prestigious McLaren Autosport BRDC Award. For a rookie driver, it doesn't get much better than that.

It showed, too - Green is not overawed by much but he couldn't take his eyes off the McLaren Formula One car hanging above the Autosport stage when he stepped up to receive his award, an example of which he will now test as part of his prize. Speaking to him shortly after that, you got the impression that it hadn't truly sunk in.

Jamie Green won the 2004 F3 Euroseries for ASM © LAT

But now it's up to the Leicestershire man to make sure the momentum he has gathered takes him on in his career next year, when a full season in British F3 beckons. Whether he will be able to make as bold a mark in that category as he did in FRenault remains to be seen but, on the evidence gathered at the award test days in October, you wouldn't bet against him doing so.

The two test days are no pushover. The six finalists, who included Green's teammate Watts, were put through their paces in an Alan Docking Racing F3 car, a works-run MG British Touring Car and a Mercedes DTM car at Silverstone. They were judged by an expert panel on their performances, attitude and feedback.

With five of the best young British drivers around also in the running, it's a real boost to come out ahead, but the judges were particularly impressed with Green's attitude towards the tests. Confident in his own abilities, Jamie was never overawed by the machinery and teams he was dealing with and he approached each test with a completely professional mindset.

British Racing Drivers' Club chairman Martin Brundle, who visited the test days, said: "The BRDC has many initiatives in racing but this is the most prestigious. There are no losers at this level. This year's winner came from a very strong group of drivers. It's rewarding and thrilling to see these young guys trying to make something very good of themselves in the world of motor racing."

With the McLaren test and £75,000 prize fund - increased from £50,000 for this year - to go towards his 2003 budget, Green is another step closer to doing just that.

His rookie season has done him a power of good, too. With an excellent karting pedigree behind him, Green impressed as soon as he stepped into the Fortec FRenault machine. He quickly got to grips with the car and by mid-season, he was already Watts' biggest rival. So it proved to be and runner-up was a fine result.

Latterly, he has gone on to outshine Watts by making his F3 debut with Carlin Motorsport at the blue-riband Korea Super Prix, where he finished a creditable ninth. The week before, he had destroyed the Asian Formula 2000 field at Macau, winning by almost two minutes.

It's been an impressive year for Jamie Green and, if things go the way he's planned them, next year will be even better.

Where are they now?

The Korea Super Prix outing with Carlin paved the way for a full-time drive with the team in British Formula 3 the following season. As a rookie and still only in his second year in cars, he won four races and finished runner-up in the championship. This time behind Alan van der Merwe but ahead of reigning South American F3 champion Nelsinho Piquet.

Jamie Green driving an HWA Mercedes-Benz in the DTM race at Mugello © XPB

He also had a handful of outings in the F3 Euro Series, yielding a podium at Pau, and finished fifth in the Masters of F3 at Zandvoort (which was won by Christian Klien). The promise he'd shown as a first year F3 driver earned him a seat in the Euro Series the following year with ASM (now ART) and it was he who started the French team's dominance of the championship.

Green won seven races in 2004 and finished with nearly double the points of his nearest challengers, Alexandre Premat and Nicolas Lapierre. Further behind him in the standings that year were the following season's GP2, Euro Series and Formula Renault 3.5 champions Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton and Robert Kubica.

But Green was left without the same options as either of that trio for the 2005 season. He did receive his prize F1 test along with 2003 award winner Alex Lloyd - and Hamilton also happened to be in the car at Silverstone that day. But unable to put together a GP2 deal, Mercedes offered him an opportunity to keep racing in their DTM programme.

He went straight into a new car - unusual for a series rookie - and finished sixth in the championship between Mika Hakkinen and Jean Alesi. Not bad company to keep for a rookie! A frustrating year following in 2006, when his raw speed was never in doubt (thanks to four pole positions) but he struggled to transform that pace into results on Sunday and finished the year fifth.

There were no poles last year, but he did break out at the end of the season and win the last two races of the year. Scoring more than half of his points in those two rounds elevated him to fourth in the standings and continued his yearly progress. He's won twice more this year, but a title charge never quite materialised and he looks set to repeat his fourth place after falling behind Mattias Ekstrom last time out at Le Mans.

It looks as though 26-year-old Green has been overlooked by Formula One - which is a shame given his record against F1's current front runners in the junior formula. But Mercedes rate him highly and he will be a title contender in DTM when he strings together a full season of the performances he's capable of.