Formula One / Ralph Ellis / 03 March 2010 /

Ralph Ellis sounds like a good dad. He's a top sports writer too and today delivers a timely assessment of Lewis Hamilton's chances of regaining the F1 Drivers' Championship.

When I first read this morning that Lewis Hamilton had dumped his dad Anthony as his manager, my first thought was: "Not before time." There always seems something wrong to me about parents hanging round their superstar kids. I can't stand the way the cameras cut to Judy Murray every time Andy either wins or loses a point.

But then I got a phone call from my eldest son who'd had a puncture, and within ten minutes I'd been on the web to book a new tyre and a fitting slot for him, paid for it, and texted to say: "Not to worry, I'll treat you to it." He's 29, for god's sake, but he's still our baby. Although not quite as much as his younger brother who's 25. So when I came to think of it, if either of them had been a Formula One world champion I'd probably have been hanging round the paddock too, determined to keep them safe from anybody trying to rip them off.

This was always going to be a defining season for Lewis. He was robbed of the chance to make a proper defence of his world title last year because the boffins at McLaren took their eye off the ball and didn't react quickly enough to the new technical rules. Instead, Ross Brawn spotted the potential to create a new diffuser (though I'm still not sure what that is), and gave Jenson Button the car that roared away from everybody else in the first half of the season.

This year the early testing times suggest that Hamilton will be back behind the wheel of a car that's capable of winning. Step one is to underline that he's a much better driver than his new team mate Button, who will have the same machinery. Step two is to exploit his instinctive racing talent to recapture the world crown. Moving out of his dad's management could prove a positive step.

"I want a manager who can take care of the stresses and then I want to do dad things with my dad - go bowling, go on holiday", says Lewis (and in his case dad things almost certainly won't include buying new tyres!).

There will be a stampede of agents wanting the job, with double former world champion Mika Hakkinen one of the leading contenders and BBC commentator Martin Brundle also rumoured to be a candidate. Meanwhile, Anthony will concentrate on managing up-and-coming drivers Paul di Resta and Nyck de Vries - and also curiously on handling the career of Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe who signed up to his agency last month. So for father and son to go their separate ways professionally looks a good call because it will avoid potential conflict over which superstar client gets the most attention.

Lewis is [5.1] to regain the title behind [3.9] favourite Fernando Alonso and that looks decent value because a relaxed Hamilton will have even more of that daredevil edge that marks him out as the best race driver on the circuit.

Five things you might not know about Anthony Hamilton

His own father Davidson moved to England in 1955 to work for London Underground because Hurricane Janet had destroyed the plantations in his home country of Grenada

The three jobs with which he sustained Lewis's early career as a driver included selling double glazing door to door

In their early days in karting Anthony would stand on the inside of a circuit to see where the best drivers were braking, then tell Lewis to brake one metre later

He made the young Lewis wear a yellow helmet at karting meetings so he could always spot where he was

His own driving isn't so clever - he crashed a Porsche into a school playground in June 2008 after losing control

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