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No pressure then: just win the Formula One Drivers' and Constructors' titles in 2008. That's the brief McLaren boss has given Lewis Hamilton, but then what an incentive he's been given: do the double and you get a McLaren F1 supercar worth £2 million.
Ron Dennis has promised to buy 23-year old Lewis Hamilton the 1990s supercar if he lifts the world crown and the McLaren team takes the constructors' championship in 2008. It's not just any old McLaren F1 Lewis has been promised either, but an F1 LM. This is the ultra-rare road racing version and there were only five built.
The unusual deal between the McLaren boss and its star driver came about when Lewis first saw the F1 supercar 10 years ago on a visit to the McLaren factory. Ever since then, he's wanted one of the 230mph mid-engined machines.
When it was new, the McLaren F1 cost £600,000 and the extra rare LM version now changes hands between collectors for £2 million. Ron Dennis quipped: "Fortunately, our deal gives me a bit of time to save up."
Alisdair Suttie - 28 Mar 2008
