Coulthard Can Teach Hamilton a Thing or Two

As Lewis Hamilton reflects on the most remarkable debut by any novice in the history of Formula One, the youngest British driver may care to read the recollections of the oldest. David Coulthard's autobiography may have a familiar ring as he details his full introduction to F1 in 1995 as a team-mate to Damon Hill.

'It was such a pure driving experience at that early stage of my career,' writes Coulthard. 'Damon was under immense pressure; his battles with [Michael] Schumacher, being the leading Brit, all of these things intensified the heat of the spotlight on him. In a sense, it was quite the opposite for me. I remember it very much as a pure and innocent time. I was a kid who just turned up to do a job, then went home. I was very good at that point in my career because I was just driving. I wasn't worried about team politics or anything like that because I hadn't become aware of them.

'In many ways, that was the best time of my career, because I was young and just driving on instinct, there was nothing dragging me down. The more you realise the situation you are in, the more you contemplate your surroundings, the more likely you will suddenly jolt upright and think, "Shit!" At that second, you lose something, you are not driving so purely.'

Hamilton probably reached that moment on 4 October when the FIA, the sport's governing body, questioned his driving during the previous race in Japan. Hamilton was cleared of all suspicion but the lengthy and laughable process, hinging on amateur footage posted on you tube, led to his wondering aloud if he really wanted to be part of a political game that became a sport for two hours on a Sunday afternoon.

By then, Hamilton had experienced the knock-on effect of beating a team-mate who, to all intents and purposes, was supposed to be doing the winning thanks to his status as twice world champion. It had taken just a handful of races for Fernando Alonso to realize that Hamilton was capable of earning his share of support from a team who pride themselves on equality.

But, whereas Coulthard had to toe the line at Williams while enjoying a frosty relationship with Hill, Hamilton was quite entitled to have his say. Whether such a policy remains practical is a matter for McLaren to decide as they ruminate on a championship lost thanks to the combination of their drivers taking points off each other and disastrous management decisions.

Kimi Raikkonen being 17 points behind - a massive margin by F1 standards - with just two races to go and yet managing to take the title by a single point in Brazil last Sunday indicates the scale of McLaren's catastrophe. Hamilton, who averaged eight points per race in the first half of the season, needed just four points but could manage only two.

The mathematics is stark proof of McLaren's failure, but that should not detract from an immaculate display as Ferrari played the team game in Brazil and allowed Raikkonen to score his sixth win, two more than anyone else. Neither should the final result suggest that Hamilton has somehow failed. Having been beautifully stitched up by the Ferrari drivers at the start at Interlagos, Hamilton lost his cool briefly when Alonso took advantage of the confusion, eased his team-mate into fourth place and then suckered Hamilton into an elementary error.

If that was Hamilton's only serious mistake in 17 races (sliding off the pit lane in China being more of a misjudgment created by inexperience and a lack of information from his team), then this has been a consistent display of brilliance from a 22-year-old in his first season while dealing with the pressure of leading the championship. As Coulthard suggests, much of that had to do with the innocence of youth.

One of the many intriguing questions for 2008 will be how Hamilton will cope with the expectation created by his explosion into stardom. Another question will be the identity of his team-mate. Given Alonso's feeling of persecution, aired frequently on Spanish radio if not in front of the world's media, it is difficult to see how the former champion can remain with McLaren despite being contractually obliged to do so.

Alonso, who suspected favoritism towards Hamilton, may also be advised to read Coulthard's book, particularly the passage relating to Coulthard's partnership with Mika Hakkinen: 'The first sign that there might be specific favoritism towards Mika came in Melbourne 1996 [Coulthard's first race for McLaren]. I was with my race engineer and Mika was chatting to his.

'The door opened and Ron [Dennis] walked in. I stood up to shake his hand and Ron ignored me. Instead he strode over to sit next to Mika and said, "What's the plan, guys?" We all listened to Mika's plans [for the race] and then Ron said, "OK, what are they doing?" Here was my team principal talking about me as if I was a rival team. "They" is not a word you use in a team situation, surely? At that exact moment, I think the naivety, the innocence of my youth, shattered around me.'

Coulthard went on to explain that, despite continual assurances to the contrary, it took Dennis a few years to admit that he did favour Hakkinen.

Bearing this in mind, and knowing that Alonso in particular would suspect discrimination because of Dennis's 12...#8209;year association with Hamilton, the McLaren boss went out of his way to be even-handed in 2007. It would cost him dearly. If Dennis had given Alonso the status he was due, at least for one year, then the Spaniard would have been allowed to overtake Hamilton at Indianapolis to win that race and, as it would turn out, the title.

On that basis, Hamilton is probably happy that Raikkonen is the champion.

· 'It Is What It Is' by David Coulthard is published by Orion Books.