How Lewis Hamilton overruled Ron Dennis to drive on "Top Gear"

Former Top Gear and The Grand Tour executive producer Andy Wilman has revealed that Lewis Hamilton personally overruled McLaren boss Ron Dennis to appear in the BBC show's "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" segment in the famous and humble Suzuki Liana instead of a Mercedes supercar.

Speaking on the Midweek F1 podcast, Wilman explained that the seven-time champion's first visit to the Dunsfold test track came straight off the back of his rookie Formula 1 season, in which he missed the championship win by just a single point.

“Well, the first time he came down, I think it was when he just lost that rookie season, the championship by [one point],” Wilman said. “So McLaren is still Ron Dennis days, so we're getting all Ron Dennis-ish-ness coming down the phone, like 'he's in a Suzuki Liana,' you know?

"And then like I think it was Matt Bishop was a PR at the time. Matt Bishop sort of rings and he goes, ‘Oh, Ron wants him to do it in like an SLR.’”

Wilman admitted that the Top Gear team pushed back hard, insisting that the whole point of the segment was to level the playing field with the modest Suzuki.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Photo by: Ahmad AlShehab / NurPhoto via Getty Images

“And we're like, ‘It's not the point, like... same car,'” he continued. “And he went, ‘Yeah, you know what Ron's like.’ And Ron's gone, ‘Yeah, but he's a Mercedes man.’ And we're like, ‘Jesus Christ, Ron, is anybody going to go, well, I'm going to buy a Liana now. I won't buy that S-Class.’ It's like, let it go.”

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Hamilton's love for the British car show was a strong motivator for the young driver, who was keen to join presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May in their famous studio.

“And then I think Lewis stepped in even as a kid and went, ‘I'm doing Top Gear,’ because he was such a kid and he'd grown up watching it, you know?” Wilman said. “So, it was a red-letter day for him. Now, obviously now he's stratospheric and everything bows to him, but back then he was like, ‘I'm coming down.’”

The now-Ferrari driver would go on to set a very competitive lap time in the Suzuki, matching Jenson Button's lap time despite driving in wet conditions.

"He was amazing. I remember watching that second-to-last corner," the producer continued. "He was incredible, which was that sort of... I don't know who came up with it, but it's like you're going from a motorway to a country lane almost at a right angle.

"And he seemed to get it better than anyone else. But it was a wet time so he wasn't top of the board."

Hamilton eventually set the fastest time on the board on his second attempt with a time of 1m42.9s, only to be beaten by former F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo by seven tenths soon after.

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