Will Davison narrates the confrontations he had with Lewis Hamilton during the two-time Bathurst winner’s ascent to the top of Formula One.
Early in the 2002 season, Davison had Hamilton breathing down his neck at Croft, where the Aussie would win in British Formula 3 a year later. On this occasion, the fight went Davison’s way.
“I raced really tight with Lewis the entire year,” Davison said to Supercars.com.
He was chasing me throughout our fierce struggle for the podium at Croft, but then he suddenly turned around and was in my mirror. He attempted to rush at me and clip me, but he whirled away.
“I was getting changed in the front of the truck after the race when I heard someone ask, ‘Is Will in there?'” I thought to myself, “Oh no, here we go.” It’s only natural that there will be a fight or something. What issue does he have?
However, he entered the truck and exclaimed, “I just wanted to say how awesome the battle was and how well you drove—that was really cool.”
And it’s always lingered in my memory that, despite his outburst and shocker, he’d actually kind of came to the conclusion that, “Cool race.” I will always remember that.
Despite Hamilton’s domestic pressures and the intense battles between them on the racetrack, the two stayed friends.”I already knew a lot about Lewis from karts; he had a lot of pressure around him and a lot of media attention,” Davison continued.
“You know, the other British students you used to hang around with were really envious of him.
However, we really started acting rather matey. He and his manager would frequently join us for lunch. To me, Lewis was a very kind young man.