Source: YouTube
Williams co-founder Sir Patrick Head says at one point Sir Lewis Hamilton could have driven for his team, but the deal was stopped by BMW, which disappointed Sir Frank Williams.
It’s well-known that Lewis Hamilton was backed by McLaren in his junior racing career, and he ultimately entered Formula 1 with the team in 2007.
However, back in 2004, Hamilton and McLaren had a bit of a falling-out, which almost caused Lewis to cut ties with the team (or vice versa).
At the time, Lewis’ father Anthony wanted his son to move to GP2, while McLaren insisted he stay in the Formula 3 Euro Series.
Apparently this caused McLaren CEO [at the time] Martin Whitmarsh to threaten to cut Lewis’ funding, and now Williams co-founder and former Technical Director Patrick Head says it was at this point that Lewis and his father contacted his team to inquire about a possible deal.
“They rang up and said: ‘Can we come and see you?’” Head said.
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“And they came in and said ‘Ron Dennis [McLaren team boss at the time] has dropped us’.
“We were with BMW at the time and I think Frank [Williams, Williams co-founder and team boss at the time] rang [BMW Motorsport Director] Mario Theissen and said: ‘Look, this guy looks as if he could be pretty good and he has come to us saying can we help him?’
“And I think Mario said they weren’t prepared to provide any support and we weren’t in a position financially where we could finance his racing, much to Frank’s annoyance.
“He could have had Lewis in a Williams,” the Briton concluded.
