Have you ever heard anyone say Lewis Hamilton is a short-corner driver and wondered what exactly that means? As much as Formula 1 is about being as fast as possible, it’s also about choosing when to slow down and speed up. Mastering that has made Hamilton the driver he is today. To understand what it means to be a short-corner driver, there’s one thing you need to know: Each straight has two ends. The shorter the ends (corners), the longer the straight. Short-corner drivers find a way to make the time spent on corners as less as possible to increase their time spent on straights. This driving style gave Hamilton the upper hand on Fernando Alonso in 2007.

When Hamilton joined F1 in 2007, his spectacular first season made him one of the best—if not the best—rookies of all time. What made it spectacular (apart from fighting for the championship) was how he consistently matched and occasionally outperformed his experienced two-time champion teammate, Alonso. F1 expert Peter Windsor revealed where Hamilton gained an advantage over Alonso.

It all came down to Lewis Hamilton’s driving style in 2007

Throughout Hamilton’s 2007 season-long championship battle against Alonso and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, he amassed several records—the most consecutive podium finishes from debut (9), the joint most wins in a debut season (4), and the most points in a debut season (109). The 109 points he scored were tied with Alonso and just one short of Raikkonen—the eventual champion. Needless to say, the then-22-year-old had a remarkable rookie season, almost edging out Alonso.

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Peter Windsor discussed the potential he saw in Hamilton and his eventual step-up into F1 on his YouTube channel. He said, “I’m totally aware of how drivers can be locked in a box, and nobody notices their talent until they’re in a winning car.” While many drivers don’t get a race-winning car as soon as they join F1, Hamilton was lucky. Windsor continued, “Obviously, with McLaren, it worked out really well [for Hamilton]. First season there, he was shocking Fernando Alonso at how quick he was straight away, and actually doing things a little bit better in his first season in a couple of areas than Fernando. Like high-speed braking. Good example.”

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When you think about it, high-speed braking comes down to how a driver wants to approach a corner. Rather than wait until the last second to brake abruptly for a corner, a short-corner driver like Hamilton gradually lays down the brake so that the car’s more stable going into a corner, making it easier to navigate and exit. That’s where Hamilton capitalized on Alonso, and that talent is basically how he compelled Alonso to leave McLaren after 2007. The mindset he had in 2007 is the same one his current teammate has, and Hamilton reflected on this challenge by using his rookie season as inspiration.

Lewis Hamilton looked back on 2022 and compared himself to Alonso

As a rookie, Hamilton was hungry to prove himself—a mindset his current teammate George Russell had in 2022. When Russell joined Mercedes in 2022, he beat his veteran teammate that season, making it only the second time any of Hamilton’s teammates have outscored him. Reflecting on that challenging season in an interview with M4 Sport, the seven-time champion used his rookie season as a reference for comparison.

Hamilton revealed, “George had nothing to lose and everything to gain. If he finished behind me, they would say, ‘Well, you finished behind a seven-time world champion,’ and if he finished ahead, then, ‘You’re a legend.’ I know exactly what that feeling was like, and I had exactly the same with Fernando. If I finished behind him, they would say, ‘We expect that it’s your first year,’ and if I finished ahead of him, I was great.”

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Do you think George Russell’s performance in his first season at Mercedes alongside Lewis Hamilton is comparable to the seven-time champion’s first season in F1?