The excitement and buzz around Lewis Hamilton was built up so much during the past few weeks that a dhaba owner enroute to the racing venue too was caught in the frenzy. A banner in front of his stall read – Welcome to Bangalore, Mr Hamiltonji!
You could just imagine how the adrenaline would have been if you are a worshipper of Formula 1 and sit before the television every fortnight to watch the endurance of those 20 super machines pushed to their limits by those extra-ordinary men.
Just two days after scorching the tracks in Singapore, Lewis Hamilton of the McLaren Mercedes team was in Bangalore to showcase his and his machine prowess to an ecstatic crowd of around 5,000 afficionados who thronged the venue to see their dream to watch a Formula 1 race driver in action.
It was not a disappointment. Hamilton, one of the youngest F1 championship winner in the history of the sport, did what he does best. Scorch the tracks. He used the same machine he drove to win his first F1 race and it did respond well on a humid Tuesday morning in Bangalore. It was a pleasure to watch the man who was more than willing to enthrall the crowds with his 'precision' driving. There were deft turns, straight drags and much more as smoke billowed from as he burnt the rubber while also pulling out all his tricks for the enthusiastic crowd.
The venue was part of the Bangalore-Mysore expressway project which is being constructed. The stretch of road was decked up and there were massive traffic jams which the road will hardly ever witness. Set against a scenic background, Hamilton first took out the machine with a thunderous roar, which was fine-tuned by his team to perfection. Within a matter of few minutes, Hamilton did a few laps up and down the 'track', and it was an amazing sight to watch him push his machine with amazing ease.
Then it was time for Hamilton to race the famous Mercedes AMG, which comes with some good amount of refinement than the regular Mercs. Even with this, the classic touch of Hamilton was evident all over as he rent the air with divine roars from the powerful engine. Then there were the lucky 12 people who were selected to sit along with him one by one and spend an unforgettable five minutes as he drove them.
Even as this was being wrapped up, another roar came from the makeshift pit and it was the Formula 1 car which was once again readied for the final hurrah. And it was a great final drive from Hamilton and it was really worth the three hours under the sweltering sun.
It was really an F1 lover's delight and as I drove to office on the expressway, the speedometer on my Honda did flirt with the three figure mark before a speed breaker brought me back to the reality of Bangalore's traffic.