'I HAD A HUNCH HE'D GO ON TO BIGGER THINGS'

November 4, 2008

A fan of Lewis Hamilton has won the equivalent of R2-million on bets made 10 years ago that the then 13-year-old would become a Formula 1 driver and win the World championship.

Bookmakers Ladbrokes said that total, along with a bet that paid out about R650 000 a year ago for the same unnamed fan, was the biggest single payout for an F1 bet in the company's history.

Hamilton, 23, won the championship when he passed German driver Timo Glock to take fifth place on the final lap of the 2008 Brazilian F1 GP.

Ladbrokes said the customer made three bets totalling about R5500 in May 1998. He collected R650 000 in 2007 on a R3000 wager at 200-1 that Hamilton would win his first F1 race before he was 23.

On Sunday he collected R800 000 on a R1500 bet that the British driver would win the World championship before he was 25 along with an R800 bet at 1500-1 odds that both both events would happen.

The man, whose son used to race karts against Hamilton, said: "I've known Lewis from his early days and it was easy to see he had an obvious driving ability, coupled with a fantastic attitude to racing.

"I just had a hunch he would go on to bigger and better things."

"We'd been sweating on that bet for a while," said Ladbrokes spokesman Nick Weinberg." -AFP