Early days for the McLaren rookie warns HeidfeldNick Heidfeld has poured cold water on the hype surrounding impressive McLaren rookie Lewis Hamilton's debut .
22-year-old Briton Hamilton is poised to make history as the first ever rookie to score three consecutive
podiums in his first three races, but the British media has gone into an unprecedented overdrive vaguely reminiscent only of
Jenson Button's debut in 2000.
But in Bahrain for the third race of the 2007 season, BMW's Heidfeld agreed that - as Button's twelfth place at Sepang a week ago proves - media hype is not always right.
"90 per cent of all rookies were future world champions when they arrived, but the only way to see is to wait for what happens,” said Heidfeld. "Lewis is doing a really good job, especially when you see that in the last race he did not make a mistake under the pressure of both Ferraris.
"But on the other hand you have to notice that (teammate Fernando) Alonso was quite clearly faster so far," Heidfeld continued.
"Lewis has done a good job but no-one should forget about the guys who are ahead of him in the championship."
Alonso, meanwhile, pointed out on Thursday that Hamilton's debut has not given him anything to worry about yet.
Asked to sum up the rookie's performance in Malaysia, Alonso said: "He kept the pressure and he kept the Ferraris behind me. And thanks to him keeping them behind we were first and second."
Source GMM
