Vasseur’s “amazing” first rodeo with a young Hamilton before F1 2025 reunion

Out of a once-successful but now-broken partnership with a storied squad, and into the welcoming, generally jolly arms of Fred Vasseur at the helm of another. Lewis Hamilton has been here before. 

Rewind 20 years, and Ferrari’s new Formula 1 superstar was merely a highly rated up-and-comer, with considerable McLaren backing. It was still early days in his single-seater career. Hamilton had won the Formula Renault UK title at the second attempt with Manor Motorsport in 2003. Manor then opted to switch its successful Formula 3 team out of the British championship and into the F3 Euro Series, to which it graduated with its young prodigy.