CHAIN REACTION: How one 1990s driver swap led to Lewis Hamilton’s first F1 world championship

It is not unheard of for a driver swap to be made in Formula 1 – but, on one occasion in particular, the consequences of such a move had a fascinating knock-on effect in the years that followed.

In the second episode of our new series Chain Reaction, we take a look at how the decision to switch Alex Zanardi and Juan Pablo Montoya in 1999 – with Zanardi returning to F1 with Williams, while Montoya headed to the CART series in the United States – had a lasting impact on the sport.

READ MORE: Driving Senna’s McLaren MP4/5B at Interlagos ‘the greatest honour of my career’ says emotional Hamilton

As the episode explains, this move kickstarted a sequence of key events which ultimately led to Lewis Hamilton winning his first world championship with McLaren in 2008.

Hit go on the video player above to watch Episode 2 of Chain Reaction.

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