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When Lewis Hamilton scored a sensational victory in the GP2 race that supported last year's British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Sir Stirling Moss was an excited spectator. His wife, Suzy, sought to drag him off to an important appointment, but Moss hesitated. "Just a moment, darling. I must congratulate Lewis."
It was one of those telling moments, that seems quite quaint looking back in the wake of Hamilton's assured drive to his first grand prix victory, in Canada on Monday.
It was obvious to anyone who paid attention to the GP2 feeder series last year - or, indeed, to any of his racing in Formula Renault or Formula Three in previous seasons - that Hamilton had a great deal of talent and class.
Nevertheless, the fact that such an iconic racer as Moss should be so determined to seek out this upcoming young man spoke volumes. "He is a very impressive young man, the most impressive young driver I've seen in a long while," Moss said at the time.
"He has the car control and he has the calmness when he is driving - but he is also a fighter and has a great manner about him. He'll go a long way."
How right he was. Hamilton's triumph makes him the 19th British driver to win a grand prix, following in the wheeltracks of luminaries like Mike Hawthorn, Moss, Peter Collins, Tony Brooks, Innes Ireland, Jim Clark, Graham Hill, John Surtees, Jackie Stewart, Peter Gethin, James Hunt, John Watson, Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill, Johnny Herbert, David Coulthard, Eddie Irvine and Jenson Button.
His success takes the wind from the sails of a small band of critics who were beginning to resent the praise heaped upon him before he had won a race.
And there was the manner in which he achieved it - on a day when his teammate, double world champion Fernando Alonso, slithered round the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, making mistake after mistake as if he, not Hamilton, was the novice.
If anyone had the slightest doubt that Hamilton is the real thing, they had their answer in the way he resisted the slightest error while dominating the event with a smooth and classy performance that will undoubtedly be the first of many.
"He is probably the brightest star that has entered Formula One - ever!" said Sir Jackie Stewart, the man whom Hamilton most closely resembles.
The win torpedoed previous comments from the 1992 champion Nigel Mansell, whose efforts now centre on providing his sons Leo and Greg with the abundant wherewithal to go racing themselves. "What can you say?" Mansell had said. "We had to win races and challenge for championships before we got the rewards. Now you seem to get the rewards before you achieve."
A significant part of Hamilton's success lies in the way in which Ron Dennis and the McLaren team have nurtured and supported his progress over the years. Since, in fact, as an 11-year-old kart racer he first approached Dennis at a motoring awards ceremony, stuck out his hand and said: "Hi, my name is Lewis Hamilton and one day I'd like to drive for you."
Mansell, for one, believes the success of the 22-year-old rookie from Tewin Wood in rural Hertfordshire, is entirely down to McLaren. "They have been way overdue for success. Timing is everything. When a driver can arrive with a team and an engine coming right, it makes a difference. No disrespect to him," he said.
Indeed it does - just as it did at Williams-Honda for Mansell in 1985. But that argument is simplistic.
You only have to look at Alonso's amateurish performance in Canada to see that merely having the best equipment is not the whole answer. Mansell believes Hamilton's career has been blessed by McLaren. "I think it was ordained," he said, adding: "My story was a lot harder."
Mansell had to sell his house to finance his racing but, perhaps, overlooked that, within a year of joining Team Lotus as a race driver in 1980, he had more than trebled his starting salary.
Right from the start of his F1 career, Hamilton has impressed. When his strategy on his debut in Australia threatened to get blocked by his old karting sparring partner Robert Kubica (who crashed heavily in Canada), the racer in Hamilton took over.
"It was important not to get too excited," he said then. "I got a pretty decent start but the BMWs were very quick off grid and Robert got past me. I'd lost a place and needed to get it back. There was no way to stay on the inside, so I thought I would dive back to the outside."
He finished third, unfazed by the pressure of running with stars such as Alonso, the eventual winner Kimi Raikkonen or Felipe Massa - winners all.
Then he sensationally backed that up with second places in Malaysia, Bahrain, Spain and Monaco, breaking all records for rookies bar that of Surtees, who took a pole position in only his second race, and Brooks, who won at the fourth attempt.
The story of Monaco is now well known, with Alonso getting the strategic nod and Hamilton, though faster, being told very firmly over the radio by his mentor Dennis not to rock the boat; to back off and let the Spaniard win.
Less well known is just how good was the lap with which he qualified second on the grid. It came on his first flying lap of the final session, when drivers circulate while burning off fuel ready for their final push.
Since Hamilton was already primed to run six laps longer than Alonso, it is clear that when he set that lap - which was only 0.179s slower than Alonso's pole-winning best - he was carrying up to nine laps' worth more fuel, a significant weight penalty. It was, without question, the lap of the season.
Damon Hill, Britain's last world champion, in 1996, knows all about the pressures Hamilton is now facing as his life has lost all of its privacy.
"People should not underestimate what he has achieved in an incredibly short space of time," he said.
"Yes, he's with a good team, and yes, he's got a good car - but, to be winning grands prix and be putting in performances like that race after race, takes something special.
"He may be young and in his first season, but this guy is the real deal. If you're good enough in this sport, you're old enough - and, boy, is Lewis good enough.
"He's leading the World Championship and winning races, so his confidence will be sky-high. And he's shown he can handle the pressure. We shouldn't get too carried away but we could be looking at the next British world champion."
It remains to be seen if Hamilton and his father, Anthony, have the right strategy, though the signs are that they do. What has been clear for months is that Hamilton is the first Briton since Stewart capable of winning many championships.
Perhaps the final word is best left to Moss: "I was impressed with him at the beginning of the season, but even more so now. It was obvious how good he was, but I never thought he would be leading the World Championship.
"For a guy who has just come into the sport, that is unbelievable, so I am terribly impressed, and what has impressed me more than anything is that he is a racer."
And now he is a grand prix winner, too.
- INDEPENDENT
