Hamilton was very well known even in his karting days, hell his name and picture were slapped over the covers of the `Karting magazine` every other month.
It was aggressive driving, nothing wrong with it. Hamilton drove himself off the track by hanging on around the outside. Can't help but laugh at Hamilton bubbling about this little move, lets look back to Silverstone in 06... I seem to remember him forcing two cars over the grass at considerably higher speeds.