Hamilton mania fires up Silverstone crowd

SILVERSTONE, England, July 8 (Reuters) Silverstone was revelling in the Lewis Hamilton effect today as British Grand Prix spectators packed the circuit to see their new sporting hero.

Banners such as ''Hamilton -- new kid on the block'' and ''Here for Hamilton''were a testament to the new-found following of a driver who leads the world championship in his rookie season.

Stuart French from Birmingham was among a group of six who cut a dash in brilliant yellow wigs -- a tribute to Hamilton's yellow helmet -- and Union flag T-shirts.

Standing in front of a two-metre wide ''Go Lewis'' banner, French said: ''He's brought a whole new energy and enthusiasm to it all. He's given a real British hero for people to follow.

''I think he's getting people who wouldn't otherwise watch Formula One to watch the sport -- and I think he's attracting a whole new youth audience as well.'' John Gowan, from the village of Stone Allerton in Somerset and a race-goer since 1994, said: ''He's just lifted everybody's expectations.

''You used to come race day and it was really good but you knew a British guy wasn't going to win. Now we think we're going to have a British winner.'' Five fans from Wakefield also see Lewis giving F1 a much wider audience in the years to come.

Lynne Broadbent said: ''In Britain, it can only do good for the sport. We've got people in our family who are all football-mad but now they're actually talking about F1.'' TIGER WOODS Not all publicity took the right approach, though, according to Peter Kearford.

''I don't like the label they've given him 'the Tiger Woods of Formula One', just because of his colour,'' he said.

''He's the Lewis Hamilton of F1...he deserves all the respect he gets -- irrespective (of whether) he's pink, green, yellow, red or blue.'' Hamilton's broad popularity is down to his success on the track being matched by an open, likeable personality.

''He's just a nice guy,'' said Gowan. ''I went to the Monaco Grand Prix and I met him. He was so relaxed and so nice.

''Some drivers are really arrogant -- Lewis isn't and I hope he stays like that.'' REUTERS BJR RN1748