Jenson was quite fortunate to have Lewis arrive in F1, as up until that point on just about every forum I frequented he was treated with utter contempt and hatred!
Anyone who had followed his karting career would have told you that he was WDC material and that he was one of the best overtakers in the business. His charges from the back of the field in karting were as brilliant, feisty and majestic as anything you could ever desire to see.
So many people to this day wonder how he got into F1 so quickly and was touted so highly, on the back of what could be described as an average F3 career and no F3000. Well fortunately, a lot of people in the know followed his early career and knew what he was capable of. Had Jenson joined a powerful Williams team and not one in decline and not had to endure a miserable time with one corrupt Fabio Briatore, he would have stamped his name on a top line drive and have contested multiple WDCs early in his career.
In 2005 he was the fastest most reliable driver for the whole season, without that ridiculously dominant and pesky Ferrari he would have won the WDC at a canter.
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What got Jenson the drive ?
An impressive junior career with kart titles and Formula Ford Festival winner ( which only him and Senna have won and be the F1 world champion. FF has been won by people like Webber and Herbert as well. He beat the king of karts Giorgio Pantano (- a man Alonso called "Invincible" and was Nico Rosberg's kart idol with a poster on his wall ) in the European Super A tilte in 1997
Ron Dennis presented the MClaren Young Driver award in 1998 and said he can be in F1 in 3 years- he 's the only winner to be world champion. Incidentally this is one award Lewis did not win amazingly
To further underline his credentials he won the British GP F3 support race in 1999 and was battling Sato and Hynes who had the more powerful Mugen Honda engines in their car to his Renault powered Dallara. Lack of sponsors and opportunities meant he was not sure of going into F3000
An impressive testing with Prost included options to drive for the team in 2000 but the call from Frank when Zanardi quit was his ticket to F1 although he was surprised by the demands of F1 initially
The reason he was treated with contempt and hatred was the British media hyped him as the next Senna even and was one the youngest to ever start a GP. Also the years at Benetton/ Renault did not help when he was dealt a harsh lesson of being back of the grid and accused of being a playboy - a bit rich when your boss is known for scoring with supermodels and manages your teammates to earn his slice on the side.
Problem was 2004 was seen as the best chance for Jenson to win races and he did not and then his career did not move forward not helped by the fact BAR/ HOnda were run by the incompetent Nick Fry under Honda HQ. Flashes of his talents were there but he did not make the most of it so everyone thought. Some people were rubbishing Jenson not being in the same league as Alonso , Schumacher or Raikkonen at the time
When Lewis came the attention moved away from Jenson and he almost became the forgotten man as Lewis stole the headlines.
Jenson's credibility has gone up not only because he was brave enough to be Lewis' teammate which has been justified with the return in his performances which are better than people like Montoya, Berger, and Kovalainen when they were at MClaren.
He's also made Mercedes look really stupid in the same process which is probably more satisfying for him. I can't help but think if he was in the Red Bull he would be closer to Vettel than Webber is right now and probably would have romped to the title last season
