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Beginnings

Lewis Hamilton began in karting at the age of eight, quickly winning championships. During his period in karting he approached McLaren boss Ron Dennis and said ”Hi. I’m Lewis Hamilton. I won the British Championship and one day I want to be racing your cars.” Dennis wrote in his autograph book, “Phone me in nine years, we’ll sort something out then.” Dennis didn’t let Hamilton down. After winning his second British championship, Dennis signed Hamilton to the McLaren driver development program, with an option in the contract being an F1 race seat.

Lewis Hamilton made the step up to cars in 2001 in Formula Renault, and won his first championship in Formula Renault 2.0 UK in 2003. He won one race and finished 5th in the 2004 Formula 3 Euro Series, before moving to the reigning Euro Series champions ASM for the 2005 season. He won a remarkable 15 of 20 rounds, dominating the championship.

For 2006,  he moved to ASM’s sister GP2 team ART Grand Prix – leaders of the field and reigning champions with Nico Rosberg. Hamilton won the championship at the first attempt, finishing ahead of future F1 drivers Nelson Piquet Jr. and Timo Glock. Handily, his GP2 success coincided with a vacancy at McLaren, and it was announced that he was to pair two-time world champion Fernando Alonso at McLaren in 2007.

McLaren

Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, Canada, 2007 - © Daimler

2007

Hamilton qualified 4th and finished 3rd on his debut at the Australian Grand Prix, becoming the thirteenth driver to finish on the podium in their first F1 career race. Continuing in impressive form with back-to-back 2nd places in Malaysia, Bahrain, Spain and Monaco.

However, the latter was marred by controversy, with accusations that the young Briton wasn’t given licence to race his teammate Alonso. There were first signs at this race that things weren’t all as they seemed at McLaren, with the tensions reaching a head at the Hungarian Grand Prix later in the season, when, in the final qualifying session for the race Hamilton was delayed in the pits by the Spaniard and thus unable to set a final lap time before the end of the session.

Hamilton took his first ever pole and win at the Canadian Grand Prix, repeating the feat at the next race at Indianapolis, in an extraordinarily impressive start to the season for the new youngest ever driver to lead an F1 championship, taking over the record from team founder Bruce McLaren.

After two further podiums in France and at his home race at Great Britain, Hamilton finished a disappointing 9th at the European Grand Prix ; his first non-podium and non-points finish, after he qualified 10th following a crash at the Nurburgring’s Schumacher chicane. Future Ferrari teammates Alonso and Felipe Massa took advantage to reduce the rookie’s championship lead.

After winning the aforementioned-controversial Hungarian Grand Prix from pole (Alonso was demoted down the grid for his misdemeanours), his lead was cut again following the Turkish Grand Prix, when he finished 5th after crawling back to the pits with a puncture.

After being beaten by Alonso at the Italian and Belgian Grands Prix, Hamilton’s lead was cut to just two points. A vital win at the Japanese Grand Prix gave him some more breathing space, but disaster struck after retiring from the penultimate Chinese Grand Prix, agonisingly running wide onto a gravel trap on the way into the pits, suffering from extreme tyre wear – his first retirement of his F1 career.

At the final race of the season in Brazil, Hamilton sadly failed to win the title, finishing 7th after two mistakes, one driver-related and one mechanical. He ran wide and fell to eighth at turn four on the first lap. Things went from bad to worse on lap 9 when he lost power for 40 seconds, stuck in neutral. He managed to repair it by changing steering wheel settings, but his brave fight from 18th to 7th wasn’t enough, with Kimi Raikkonen winning the Grand Prix and the world championship.

2008

For 2008, Hamilton was paired with former Renault driver Heikki Kovalainen, with the Briton driving McLaren’s first car. He won the first race of the season, in Australia, from pole position. However, what followed was a relatively tough couple of races, finishing 5th in Malaysia and 13th in Bahrain, after crashing into rival Alonso early on.

It took him until the Monaco Grand Prix to get back to winning ways, putting him into the lead of the championship. Unfortunately though, his inconsistent season continued, retiring from the Canadian Grand Prix after crashing into the back of Kimi Raikkonen at the end of the pit lane. He was given a ten-place grid drop for the next race in France, which he finished in 10th place.

A couple of much needed wins came at the British and German Grands Prix, with the first from 4th on the grid. It seemed like he’s won the Belgian Grand Prix, too, but he was later judged to have gained an unfair advantage by cutting a chicane when he used a tarmac run off area to avoid hitting Kimi Raikkonen. An appeal from McLaren was rejected, and a 25-second penalty demoted Hamilton to 3rd. His lead in the championship was cut to just two points.

At the Italian Grand Prix, Hamilton could only manage 7th place, meaning his lead was cut further to a single point. He was given some much needed breathing space after nearest rival Felipe Massa retired from the Singapore Grand Prix next time out, while Hamilton finished 3rd.

Despite starting from pole position at the Japanese Grand Prix, a driver error followed by a drive-through penalty and collision with fellow contender Massa resulted in a dismal 12th place finish, with his championship lead reduced to a minute five points. What better way to bounce back than with a win, and at the penultimate race in China, he took the chequered flag from pole position, resulting in a seven-point lead being carried into the final race in Brazil. Finishing in the top five was the minimum requirement for him to take the title.

It was a tough race, and in the closing laps with rain beginning to fall at Interlagos, Hamilton was running in 5th place. However, he was overtaken by future champion Vettel, meaning that he was set to lose the title in Brazil for the second consecutive season. Massa’s garage was bouncing, but on the very last lap Hamilton passed the fast-fading Timo Glock, winning him the title instead. Glock was on dry tyres in the moist conditions, and paid the price, in one of the most dramatic and exciting scenes in F1 history.

2009

Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, China, 2009 - Photo © Daimler

After a successful 2008, 2009 was a relative disaster for McLaren, with Eddie Jordan saying the MP4-24 was the worst car the team had ever built. Hamilton started the season opener from 18th place after changing his gearbox during qualifying. After an astonishingly good race Hamilton was running 4th place, but under a safety car period Jarno Trulli ran wide, promoting Hamilton up to 3rd. McLaren wrongly told Hamilton that they had to let him back through.

Realising their mistake, at the end of the race they told race stewards that they had not told Hamilton to let Trulli through, and the Italian had done it of his own accord. However, later on, the release of McLaren’s radio transmissions revealed the truth, and Hamilton was disqualified from the race for providing “misleading evidence” during the stewards’ hearing. He later gave an emotional public apology, and privately apologised to FIA race director Charlie Whiting.

The later races didn’t get much better for Hamilton, and after finishing 7th, 6th and 4th in Malaysia, China and Bahrain, Hamilton’s longest barren spell without points followed, with 5 races passing and Hamilton failing to score a single point. After finishing last at the German Grand Prix following a puncture and a crash, his fortunes were reversed at the Hungaroring next time out, taking his first win of the season, and the first win ever for a KERS-assisted car.

At the European Grand Prix at Valencia, Hamilton qualified on pole position, but failed to take the race victory after a poor pit stop from McLaren. Brawn GP’s Rubens Barrichello won the race, with Lewis in 2nd place. Despite failing to take the chequered flag, it seemed like McLaren were back, having recovered from their shocking start to the season.

Hamilton crashed out of the next two races in Belgium and Italy, before winning in Singapore – his second, and final, win of the season. Two 3rd places in Japan and Brazil followed, before retiring from the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, impressively his first technical-related retirement in F1. He finished the championship in 5th place, with Heikki Kovalainen leaving the team at the end of the year.

2010

Hamilton was partnered by fellow Briton and reigning world champion Jenson Button for 2010, but it was another frustratingly inconsistent season. After finishing 3rd at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Hamilton failed to make the top ten in qualifying in Australia, finishing 6th.

A great drive from 20th on the grid after a mistake from the team to 6th place came at Malaysia, before finishing in 2nd place at the Chinese Grand Prix behind Jenson Button, the team’s first 1–2 finish since the 2007 Italian Grand Prix. Hamilton retired from the Spanish Grand Prix in the closing laps, when running in 2nd place.

His first win of the season came at the Turkish Grand Prix, with other victories occurring in Canada and Belgium. However, retirements in Hungary, Italy and Singapore ruined any title hopes Hamilton had remaining, as he finished 4th in the championship, ahead of teammate Button.

2011

For 2011 Hamilton continued at McLaren.