Hamilton's delight at debut

That's my boy: Nicolas Hamilton with his father, Anthony, at Brands Hatch

13 April 2012

Nicolas Hamilton had plenty of reason to celebrate his motor racing debut even if he wasn't able to emulate his half-brother, Lewis.

The 19-year-old, who has had to overcome cerebral palsy to get on the starting grid, was last on the track in both his Renault Clio Cup races at Brands Hatch but with competitive lap times.

"Today was only my seventh time in the car and I was less than a second off the fastest driver," he said after being 15th yesterday and 12th on Saturday.

"If you took someone off the street and put them in my shoes they'd be hard pressed to do a better job.

"I'm glad people understand that I'm a novice. My mountain is steep, but to go from 4.5 seconds off the pace in testing to 0.9 seconds in the race is pretty good."

Lewis flew back from Malaysia, where he is preparing for Sunday's Grand Prix, so he could see Nicolas in action.

McLaren's 2008 Formula One world champion said: "I am just incredibly proud. I was smiling the whole way through the race."