TEN YEARS AFTER, HAMILTON AND ROSBERG ARE BACK ON KARTS AT LONATO WITH
DINO CHIESA AND CRG
F1 drivers Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, who used to race together for
CRG and Dino Chiesa's team a few years ago, went back on a kart
last Friday, both to get some fun and for a small training session for
next F1 season. The two drivers met on the 'South Garda Karting
Circuit', welcomed by their former team manager Dino Chiesa, for a
full immersion day in karting.
Both Hamilton and Rosberg, before their debut in car-racing, used to race
together for the MBM team (acronym of Mercedes Benz McLaren) in 2000 and
2001, with CRG chassis; in those years they even took part in the Italian
Championship Open Masters. With Dino Chiesa and CRG, Hamilton became
Formula A European Champion in 2000, with Rosberg crossing the line for
second.
Hamilton, who turned 25 few days ago and is about to race for McLaren for
the 4th season, could test the 'LH' chassis, recently
developed by CRG thanks to 2008 F1 World Champion's advice and
technical specs.
Rosberg, who is racing for Mercedes this year, raced on a
'Zanardi' chassis; he already had the occasion to appreciate
it last November, on the very same circuit of Lonato together with
Michael Schumacher and the young Dutch star Nyck De Vries. De Vries, who
was together with the two F1 drivers on this occasion too, has recently
been included in the McLaren young driver development programme.
Also Lewis Hamilton's brother, Nicholas, got on a kart: he had lot
of fun testing a CRG-Rotax Max.
Lewis Hamilton concentrated on the driving of his 'LH', both
in the KF and KZ version -- with gears and Maxter engine. "I
really had lot of fun -- said Hamilton after racing for almost a
whole day -. Above all, I enjoyed the kart with gears, which I had never
tried before. I've always raced on a 100cc without gears, and
it's been hard for me to adjust to the driving style the KZ
requires. I need to get the knack of it, but I've already seen that
it's total fun. I obviously felt at ease with the KF, quite similar
to my old 100cc. Anyway, it was wonderful to meet again with my old team,
my brother and all my Italian friends."
Dino Chiesa was very satisfied too: "Meeting again on a track after
almost ten years was a great experience. First of all, both Hamilton and
Rosberg wanted to have fun, without trying to get first rate
performances, even though they raced at full throttle. Nicholas Hamilton
had lots of fun too: he didn't want to get down of the kart. I
think he completed almost 200 laps... I hope to repeat this
experience in a few months."
-source: crg pr
