Driver profiles: Lewis Hamilton

Hello everyone

In the coming weeks I'll be highlighting famous drivers through F1 history because we all need a little education, and of course motivation.

These guys have seen and done it all, and literally pushed through when the going got tough - Endurance - that's what it's called, and these drivers held it all together when the lanes were wet.

And so I'll begin with legend numero uno, and a personal favourite, Lewis Hamilton.

There's a couple rumours as to how Hamilton really entered the race world. Some say (do I see the Stig somewhere?) he started racing as a hobby and one road led to another. Others say he introduced himself to McLaren manager Ron Dennis at a ceremony in 1995, when he was just 9 years old, and asked for his autograph. This apparently earning him the respect of the McLaren team and a position 13 years later with Dennis signing "phone me in 9 years, we'll sort something out then".

Hamilton was karting from the age of 8 and thus had a natural affinity to move as the wheel did.



At the age of 13 he was the youngest driver to have been contracted by an F1 team, and went from poll to poll, constantly improving, to reach another pillar of success by finishing behind Michael Shumacher in 2001, at his home track in Kerpen.
This marked his rite of passage from karts to cars.

However, having never driven a car before, when given a Renault to drive from Manor Motorsport on one of their test days, he crashed the car after just 3 laps!

In 2002 he finished third in Formula Renault UK with Manor Motorsport, winning 3 races plus one Formula Renault Eurocup race.
He remained in the series in 2003 but took until the 5th round at Silverstone, to secure his first win.

From there on he dominated, winning the next 9 of 10 races.
Eventually he had records with 9 fastest laps, 11 pole positions, and 419 points to runner-up Alex Lloyd’s 371.

In 2004 he raced Formula 3, but this time in the European Series as opposed to the British championship. That year he also had his first test in a McLaren F1 car.

In 2005 Hamilton needed some fresh scenery and switched teams to ASM. He brought some victory, winning 15 out of 20 races.
He also won both the Monaco F3 Grand Prix races from pole position and the Pau F3 Grand Prix in France from pole position.

2007 saw a slot become available alongside Alonso following Kimi's and Juan Pablo's departures from McLaren, and Hamilton filled it. People were sceptical as to how Dennis was filling the post with a rookie driver, let alone one of a different ethnic group, but once again Hamilton was set to make people choke on his smoke.
He finished on the podium at his first race and kept it up for 9 races in a row, winning at Montreal and Indianapolis.

But things quickly turned sour for team McLaren in 2008 when they were accused of gaining and using info from Ferrari, illegally.
During the Hungarian Grand Prix, Hamilton ignored instruction to let Alonso past and Alonso gained revenge by holding Hamilton in the pits so he missed his final qualifying lap.
Alonso was punished and it emerged later that he had threatened Dennis, wanting to expose his apparent role in the Ferrari - McLaren leaks, in exchange for number 1 status in the team over Hamilton.
Dennis and Alonso's relationship crumbled and McLaren were hit with a huge fine as well as exclusion from the constructors’ championship while Alonso edged closer to Hamilton in the drivers’ standings.

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2009 saw more trouble for McLaren when they were accused of lying during the season. However, Hamilton wasn't deterred and managed to secure 5th place in the championship by year end.

In 2010 he bounced back slightly with the MP4-25 at his disposal. He won races in Turkey, Canada and Belgium and led the points halfway through the season.

Hamilton let his skills dissolve slightly in 2011, with a series of scrappy wins and mistakes which could have been easily avoided, including clipping Massa's Ferrari in Singapore.

2012 saw Hamilton's first win of the season in Canada, Italy, Hungary and the U.S. but low on points, most of which were not faults of his own.
This was also the year he ended his contract with McLaren to join Mercedes. It was here that Mercedes won 3 times and took 2nd in the championship, one of which was courtesy of Hamilton.

In 2013 he enjoyed a relatively seamless transition from McLaren to Mercedes, despite difficulties adapting to the F1 W04's braking system. He scored 1 victory, as well as 5 pole positions.

And there you have it, still living the dream in 2014 with Mercedes.

Nice post. Tx

Great post, LeeBee! He's my favourite F1 driver too. Just to add on something interesting, Lewis Hamilton could have actually entered Formula 1 in 2004, with Williams BMW (source: http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2008/mar/01/motorsports.lewishamilton). He would have been 18/19 years old (?). Sadly, BMW did not want him. Still, a blessing in disguise since he won his first world championship in a McLaren!

Hoping that no mechanical gremlins hit him in Abu Dhabi, looking forward to call him a multiple world champion...