Lots of people obviously weren't around in the early days of Hamiltons career and haven't followed it for as long. Some only appeared when Netflix started to do Drive to Survive.
To put this into perspective we all know F2 today, it was GP2 then the pre-series to F1. Lewis Hamilton was flying and in this race he showed why he became a star in F1. I'm going to spoil it now for those that love motorsport; imagine a driver spinning on lap 2, he falls pretty much to the back into 21st place and then in an equal car fights through the pack to finish in second. That's the same engine, tyres the lot only setup and skill to differentiate.
This day not only the GP2 crowd watched the race the entire F1 paddock did, there was more talk about Hamiltons fightback than the F1 race. Mechanics from across the teams were watching and cheering, everyone was mesmerised.
To then come into F1 in his first year and challenge the great amazing Fernando Alonso regard as up there with the very best was sublime at the time. Nobody expects a new driver to shine in F1 for the first time but he was leading in the McLaren after 5 or 6 races against a far more seasoned F1 driver. THAT is why many like him and see he has or had the same raw talent as Max does. Yes they both made mistakes and tried some crazy overtakes that didn't work early on but they are very much on the same page.
Give it a watch, same machinery and one hell of a drive (Yes after the mistake the caused the spin) showed the raw talent and class he had, which got him the drive F1 drive. He like Max, Schumacher, Senna can do things to a car other drivers couldn't get close to.
Short Version
Medium - Edited to add need to watch it on YouTube direct.
Full Race - Edited to add need to watch it on YouTube direct.