Lucky Chennai! The city had the privilege of interacting with 2008 Formula One champion, Lewis Hamilton, last Saturday. The racer was in Chennai for a Vodafone promotional event on Friday. The 25-year-old McLaren driver took the winners of the Vodafone SMS and online contest on the drive of their lives. He took them on spine-tingling laps around the Madras Motor Race Track, Irungattukottai, where a significant crowd of racing enthusiasts had gathered.

Lewis changed his car twice as it did not live up to his expectations. Seeing him drive from close quarters indeed exceeded a layman’s expectation. The moment Hamilton revved up the engine the crowd could very well feel the adrenaline rush, and when he did a 360 degree wheel spin, everyone just got what they waited for. Nobody was disappointed.

Commenting on the proposed 2011 Indian Grand Prix scheduled to take place in Noida, New Delhi, Hamilton said, “It’s been long overdue. It’s been in the pipeline for a while now, and when it does happen, I imagine it’s going to be spectacular. Judging by the enthusiasm of the crowd here, it will certainly be noisier than the Turkish Grand Prix, where the atmosphere was quite dull.”

Hamilton recalled the first-lap incident that saw him crash out of the Italian Grand Prix a week ago, and he also fell out of the lead in the driver’s championship. He said, his collision with Ferrari’s Felipe (Massa) was unfortunate and nine out of 10 times, he would have avoided it. While racing at such high speeds, one needs to make split-second decisions and Hamilton admitted he made a mistake. He added, “With five races left, I’m still in the hunt for the title but Webber, Alonso and Button are pushing hard.”

Hamilton also had his say about team orders, an issue that split Formula One following the recent controversy surrounding the German Grand Prix. Ferrari was fined for instructing its driver Felipe Massa to let teammate Fernando Alonso pass him. “We (McLaren) don’t have team orders,” he said. “I haven’t experienced it. I don’t know how Felipe, for instance, must be feeling. When you have team orders, it’s not necessarily the best driver that wins, just the guy the team favours.”

Lewis Hamilton smiled as he spoke about his younger days when he met McLaren‘s long-time Team Principal Ron Dennis for the first time. It was at an awards ceremony when he was a 10-year-old karting champion. He said, “My dad had given me this autograph book, and was pointing out to me – ‘that’s Michael Schumacher, that’s Damon Hill.’ When he told me about Ron Dennis, I had to meet him, since I was a huge fan of Ayrton Senna, who had won so many titles with McLaren.”

“So I went up to him and told him I would be winning the World Championship one day, in his car, and he said to me, ‘call me in nine years.’ Three years later, he called me himself (to offer him a place in McLaren’s Young Driver Support Programme), which was even better.”

Asked for the secret to domination in Formula One racing, he said, “It is not easy to dominate in F1 and it is hugely team work. It is off-track effort as well and depends a lot on your life off the track. It also depends on how you understand your machine. A good car, determination and an amazing understanding of equipment is very important.”

For those interested in knowing what Hamilton thinks of Indian racer Karun Chandhok, this is what he said, “Karun Chandhok is young and it is great for him and for India. I hope he gets better opportunities as he has a good future ahead of him. F1 is a tough sport especially as it also depends on how much more you can bring than your ability. I am sure some opportunity will open up for him and he will get a better car.”