But he was dead wrong, late last year, when he said no driver could come into F1 and achieve the level of success that would make him a championship contender.

It is his protege, Lewis Hamilton, who has proved him wrong. Even before he scored the first two victories of his skyrocketing career . . .eight days apart in Canada and America recently . . .observers where whispering about the possibility of him winning the title in his first year.

Nobody has ever achieved that before. The first official world champion, Italy's Dr Guiseppe Farina, had already driven many grands prix when the official championship was inaugurated in 1950. Jacques Villeneuve came closest, finishing runner-up to Williams-Renault teammate Damon Hill in 1996. As Dennis suggested, it usually takes up to three years for a driver to become sufficiently rounded. Even Jackie Stewart, who won his eighth grand prix, modestly suggested when Graham Hill narrowly beat him to the championship in 1968, his fourth season, that while he was ready on the track he was not sufficiently mature off it to have done justice to the crown.

Yet even as early as the Spanish GP in May, his fourth grand prix in which he finished second to Felipe Massa and ahead of teammate Fernando Alonso, the reigning world champion, Hamilton shared the nominal lead of the series and people began to talk of the title. Back then, Hamilton would quickly point out that while he shared the lead on points with Massa and Alonso, he was actually third because both had won races and he had not.

Now, after two superbly driven victories on circuits he had never previously visited, he can no longer avoid the hard question whether he can become champion at the first attempt. In his Formula Renault and Formula Three days he needed two seasons in each before taking titles; yet in his first season in GP2 last year, he was a dominant champion. Perhaps, and here's a thing that should strike terror into the hearts of rivals, he is simply getting better with each passing year.

Immediately after extending his lead to 10 points over Alonso in the US GP at Indianapolis last Sunday, Hamilton fielded the big question thus: "I wouldn't say my goals have changed. I came to the season with an open mind just trying to do a good job.

Yes, we're seven races into the championship, I have to be smart and realise that I'm running at the front, and there is a possibility of winning the championship. But I still think it's far, far too early to even think about it or get any hopes up. Anything can happen during the season, I just have to try and remain consistent and try to keep on winning. But, you know, as many points from each race is good for the team and also for me. So I'm sure that's what me and Fernando are going to try to do." In London last week, that had been refined further, as his innate self-confidence shone like a beacon when he said: "If I keep on getting the results I have so far, there's no reason why I can't win the World Championship." Besides his raw speed, the stunning things about Hamilton are his poise, both on and off the track, and the manner in which he seems to be coping with a situation in which success has turned his life on its head.

Can he win the title at the first attempt? Of course he can. Incredible as it may seem, that much is crystal clear already. Whether he actually does is what will make this such a classic season of grand prix racing.

FRENCH GRAND PRIX Magny-Cours, Sunday, 1 July Setanta, UTV, 12.15pm