One of the most successful Formula 1 drivers in history, Hamilton recently surpassed F1 legends Prost and Senna on all time career wins. An incredible debut season, in which he almost won the championship, established him as a real contender. Having won three world titles since then, he has enjoyed much success in Formula One.
During his time at McLaren, Hamilton enjoyed a great deal of success, winning 21 races with the team.
After winning the British karting title at the age of just ten, he met Ron Dennis and told him that he wanted to drive for him one day. At the age of 12 he joined McLaren’s driver development program. Beginning racing cars in 2001, he started in Formula Renault. He won the title in his second year and then moved on to Formula 3. In 2005 he won the Formula 3 Euroseries, winning 15 out of 20 races and claiming 13 pole positions.
Following this success, he found a drive in GP2, and again put up an incredible performance. Winning the title in his first attempt, his brilliant show was enough to give him a drive in Formula One with McLaren.
In 2007, he became Fernando Alonso’s team mate in the McLaren F1 team. With 9 podiums in a row and 4 wins; he just missed out on the title – by a single point. Alonso was replaced by Heikki Kovalainen in 2008, and Hamilton won five races, including the British Grand Prix. Brazil was the last race and Lewis Hamilton needed a strong result in order to win the title. Felipe Massa won the race, but an overtake on Glock on the last corner saw Hamilton take the title by just one point.
2009 was his worst season so far, only winning 2 races and finishing fifth overall. With 2010 and 2011 dominated by Sebastian Vettel, Lewis had little success scoring only 6 wins in the two years. 2012 was another bad season, but 4 wins saw him finish in 4th overall.
Moving to Mercedes in 2013, Hamilton has already won two world championships with them.
A move to Mercedes in 2013, after Michael Schumacher’s retirement, saw Hamilton teamed up with his childhood friend, Nico Rosberg. Only one win and 189 points made it one of his worst seasons. However, a dominant car in 2014 has saw him win 11 races in a season-long battle with team mate Rosberg. Despite qualifying second, he took first on the first corner. After Rosberg was hit by multiple issues on his car, Hamilton went on to win the race and, more importantly, the title.
Dominating the following season, Hamilton won 10 races, sealing the world championship in the USA despite having three more races to go. He also passed his hero Ayrton Senna on number of career victories, reaching 43 wins by then end of the year.