“This country always seems to need that success to stimulate people to do it, that little spark to get things going. I think this one is going to have a longer-term effect, though, because Lewis is going to be at the top end for a good few years yet.

“It will be nice, because British drivers generally get it very, very hard – the European drivers in the past when I was doing it always seemed to get much more sponsorship, with all the cigarette companies. It was only later with [Eddie] Irvine and [Allan] McNish that British drivers got cigarette sponsorship for the first time.

“We've had the economic downturn around the world, but drivers will keep on turning up and there will be young drivers coming through – hopefully British – who will have a chance. There are definitely some young Brits out there that have a chance of achieving.”

by Russell Atkins

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