Formula One News

Lewis Hamilton Bio

Lewis Hamilton began his motorsport career in 1995 when he crowned the Super One British Champion as well as the STP Champion. The following year, still in the Cadet Class, he won the Sky TV Kart Masters as well as the Five Nations. This was also the year that Hamilton began his association with McLaren, winning the McLaren Mercedes Champions of the Future series.

In 1997, Hamilton won the McLaren Mercedes Champions of the Future series for the second year running, and resulted in Lewis being signed by McLaren and Mercedes-Benz to their Young Driver Support Programme in 1998. Ron Dennis’s belief in Hamilton’s talents was such that the contract even included an option on the 13 year-old should he ever make it into Formula One racing.

McLaren’s financial support was a blessing for Hamilton, as he now had the funds to be able to compete on a much larger stage where he won a multitude of European karting titles, and by the age of 15 he was crowned the sport’s youngest number one, a record which he still holds.

Hamilton’s achievements in junior series earned him a test driver role with the McLaren F1 team and after impressing team boss at the time Ron Dennis, Lewis landed his seat with the team alongside two time world champion Fernando Alonso. It was an out-of-character move for a traditionally conservative squad, but one which quickly paid dividends for team and driver alike, as Hamilton quickly rose to the occasion, with a fourth place start and a third-placed finish in his debut grand prix.

Hamilton went on to record a further eight consecutive podium finishes. The young British driver won four Grands Prix in his debut season and led the championship for much of the year, causing an intense rivalry with Alonso both on and off the circuit.

With two races remaining on the calendar, Lewis looked set for the World title, but a poor tyre decision led to him to retire from the Chinese GP, even though he still entered the final race of the season as the leader in the Drivers’ Championship. But unfortunately for Lewis, it wasn’t meant to be as a gearbox problem cost him roughly half a minute and put an end to his quest of becoming the first rookie F1 World Champion.

It was an opportunity missed, but one which he put right the following season. Four podium finishes, including two wins, in the opening five races saw Hamilton get his season off to a solid start, and helped ensure he led the championship for the majority of the season. Hamilton ultimately beat Ferrari’s Felipe Massa to the crown by a single-point after a tense title showdown at the finale in Brazil, where he famously took the fifth place he needed on the final corner of the final lap. At the time aged just 23 Hamilton became Formula One’s youngest-ever champion.

His title defence in 2009 proved a tougher affair, with a car woefully short on downforce and pace. Controversy also hit the young champion at the opening grand prix of the season, which led Hamilton to being disqualified from the first race in Australia, after he was found guilty of deliberately misleading race stewards, to why Jarno Trulli had been able to overtake under a Safety Car situation. Trulli was initially punished but later it emerged that Hamilton had not been entirely truthful with the stewards – and on more than one occasion. As such he was thrown out of the Australia’s results and his reputation suffered an almost fatal blow.

However, Hamilton never gave in and eventually turned his season around. July’s Hungarian Grand Prix saw him back on the top step of the podium, which was followed by another win in Singapore and a further three podiums. Hamilton finished the season fifth, whilst fellow Brit and Hamilton’s team mate to be, Jenson Button took the title.

2010 was a season of highs and lows for Hamilton. He started his 2010 campaign amid a fallout from the high-profile decision to drop his father, Anthony Hamilton, as manager. Plus, Hamilton also made a number of driver errors, which left him with a number of DNFs. Lewis finished the 2010 fourth in the drivers’ championship, 16 points adrift of the new youngest World Champion Sebastian Vettel.