I don't aspire to be like other drivers -

I aspire to be unique in my own way

Content

1. Personal Life
2. Early Career
2.1. Karting
2.2. Formula Renault and Formula Three
2.3.GP2
3. Formula One Career
4. Team Tensions
5. Racial Abuse
6. Helmet
7. Records
8. Conclusion

Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton MBE (born in Stevenage; 7 January 1985) is a British
Formula One racing driver from England, currently racing for the McLaren Mercedes
team and is the youngest ever Formula One World Champion. He was named after the
American sprinter Carl Lewis.

At the age of ten Lewis approached the McLaren team principal, Ron Dennis, at the
1995 Autosport Awards ceremony and told him "I want to race for you one day." Less
than three years later, he was signed by McLaren and Mercedes-Benz to their Young
Driver Support Programme. After winning the British Formula Renault, European
Formula Three and GP2 championship in 2006, he became a McLaren F1 driver for
2007, making his Formula One debut 12 years after his initial encounter with Dennis.
Coming from a mixed-race background, with a black father and white mother,Hamilton is
often labelled "the first black driver in Formula One".Lewis Hamilton 2 In his first season
in Formula One Hamilton set numerous records and finished second in the 2007 Formula
One Championship one point behind Kimi Rikknen.

His first world championship was won the following season, ahead of Felipe Massa by
the same margin of a single point. He has stated that he wants to stay with the McLaren
team for the rest of his F1 career.Personal life Hamilton's mother, Carmen Larbalestier
(now Carmen Lockhart) is white British, while his paternal grandparents emigrated from
Grenada to the United Kingdom in the 1950s,his grandfather (Oliver Hamilton) working
on the London Underground.

1. Personal life
Hamilton's parents separated when he was two and he lived with his mother and half-
sisters Nicola and Samanthauntil the age of twelve, when he started living with his father,
stepmother Linda and half-brother Nicholas who has cerebral palsy.
Hamilton's first taste of racing competition came at the controls of radio-controlled cars.
His father, Anthony, bought him one in 1991 and Hamilton finished second in the
national BRCA championship the following year. Hamilton said of the time: "I was
racing these remote-controlled cars and winning club championships against adults". That
led to Hamilton sampling kart racing for the first time when, aged six, his father bought
him his first go-kart as a Christmas present telling him that he would support his racing
career as long as he worked hard at school. When supporting his son became problematic
his father took redundancy from his position as an IT Manager and became a contractor,
sometimes doing up to three jobs at a time to support his son's career and still managing
to find enough time to attend all Hamilton's races. He would later set up his own
computer company as well as working as a manager for Hamilton on a full time basis.
Lewis Hamilton with Pedro de la Rosa (left), Paul di Resta and Bruno Spengler at Stars
and Cars 2007 Hamilton was educated at The John Henry Newman School, a voluntary
aided Catholic secondary school in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. He extended his skills to
football, playing in his school team alongside current Aston Villa and England
international midfielder Ashley Young. Hamilton said that if Formula 1 had not worked
for him he would have been a footballer or a cricketer, having played both for his school
teams as a youngster.

On 29 October 2007,
Hamilton announced
his intention to live in
Switzerland stating that
he wished to get away
from the media
scrutiny he has experienced living in the United Kingdom. Hamilton mentioned on the
television show Parkinson (broadcast on 10 November 2007) that taxation was partly
responsible for his decision in addition to wanting more privacy.Lewis Hamilton received
public criticism from UK MPs including Liberal Democrat MP Bob Russell for avoiding
UK taxes. Other Formula One drivers, including world champions Michael Schumacher,
Kimi Rikknen and Fernando Alonso, also live in Switzerland.On 18 December 2007,
Hamilton was suspended from driving in France for a month after being caught speeding
at 122 mph (196 km/h) on a French motorway. His Mercedes-Benz was also impounded.
Hamilton is currently dating Nicole Scherzinger, the lead singer of the American girl
band Pussycat Dolls. Lewis Hamilton 3 Hamilton was awarded an MBE in the 2009 New
Year Honours.

2. Early Career
2.1 Karting

Hamilton began karting in 1993 at the age of eight,at the Rye House Kart Circuitand
quickly began winning races and Cadet class championships. At the age of ten he
approached McLaren F1 team boss Ron Dennis for an autograph, and told him, "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." From the Cadet ranks, he progressed through to Junior Yamaha
(1997) and Ron Dennis actually called him in 1998 after Hamilton won an additional
Super One series and his second British championship.Dennis delivered on his promise
and signed Hamilton to the McLaren driver development program. This contract included
an option of a future F1 seat,which would eventually make Hamilton the youngest ever
driver to secure a contract which later resulted in an F1 drive.

"He's a quality driver, very strong and only 16. If he keeps this up I'm sure he will
reach F1. It's something special to see a kid of his age out on the circuit. He's clearly
got the right racing mentality." Michael Schumacher, speaking about Hamilton in
2001. Lewis Hamilton continued his progress in the Intercontinental A (1999), Formula A
(2000) and Formula Super A (2001) ranks, and became European Champion in 2000 with
maximum points. In Formula A and Formula Super A, racing for TeamMBM.com, his
team mate was Nico Rosberg who would later drive for the Williams team in Formula
One. Following his karting successes the British Racing Drivers' Club made him a
Rising Star Member in 2000. In 2001 Michael Schumacher made a one-off return to
karts and competed against Hamilton along with other future F1 drivers Vitantonio Liuzzi
and Nico Rosberg. Hamilton ended the final in seventh, four places behind Schumacher.
Although the two saw little of each other on the track Schumacher praised the young
Briton.

2.2 Formula Renault and Formula Three

Hamilton began his car racing career in the 2001 British Formula Renault Winter Series.
Despite crashing on his third lap in the car in testing, he finished fifth overall in the
winter series.This led to a full 2002 Formula Renault UK campaign with Manor
Motorsport. Hamilton finished third overall with three wins and three pole positions. He
remained with Manor for another year and won the championship with ten wins and 419
points to the two wins and 377 points of his nearest rival, Alex Lloyd. Having clinched
the championship, Hamilton missed the last two races of the season to make his debut in
the season finale of the British Formula Three Championship. Here he was less
successful: in the first race he was forced out with a puncture,and in the second he
crashed out and was taken to hospital after a collision with his team-mate Tor Graves.He
did show his speed at both the Macau and Korean Grand Prix, in the latter he qualified on
pole position in his first visit to the track and in only his fourth F3 race. At the beginning
of 2004 Hamilton and McLaren had an argument which resulted in McLaren temporarily
dropping him. Later, on the 2nd of March 2007 Williams would Lewis Hamilton 4
announce that they had come close to signing the young individual but were refused the
opportunity due to BMW, their engine supplier at the time, refusing to fund Hamilton's
career. Hamilton eventually re-signed with McLaren, and made his debut with Manor in
the 2004 Formula Three Euroseries. They won one race and Hamilton ended the year
fifth in the championship. He also won the Bahrain F3 Superprix and raced one of the
Macau F3 Grand Prix. Hamilton first tested for McLaren in late 2004 at Silverstone.
Hamilton moved to the reigning Euroseries champions ASM for the 2005 season and
dominated the championship, winning 15 of the 20 rounds. This would have been 16 but
for being disqualified from one win at Spa-Francorchamps on a technical infringement
that caught out several other drivers. He also won the Marlboro Masters of Formula 3 at
Zandvoort. After the season British magazine Autosport featured him in their Top 50
Drivers of 2005 issue, ranking Hamilton 24th.

2.3 GP2
Due to his success in Formula Three, he moved to ASM's sister GP2 team ART Grand
Prix for 2006. Just like their sister team in F3, ART were the leaders of the field and
reigning champions having taken the 2005 GP2 crown with Nico Rosberg. Hamilton won
the GP2 championship at his first attempt, beating Nelson Piquet, Jr. His notable
performances included a dominant win at the Nrburgring, despite serving a penalty for
speeding in the pit lane. At his home race at Silverstone, supporting the British Grand
Prix, Hamilton impressively overtook two rivals at Becketts, a series of high-speed (up to
150 mph in a GP2 car) bends where overtaking is rare. He demonstrated his overtaking
prowess again in Istanbul, when he recovered from a spin that left him in eighteenth place
to take second position in the final corners. He won the title in unusual circumstances,
inheriting the final point he needed after Giorgio Pantano was stripped of fastest lap in
the Monza feature race. In the sprint race, though he finished second with Piquet sixth, he
finished twelve points clear of his rival.
His 2006 GP2 championship coincided with a vacancy at McLaren following the
departure of Juan Pablo Montoya to NASCAR and Kimi Rikknen to Ferrari. After
months of speculation on whether Hamilton, Pedro de la Rosa or Gary Paffett would be
paired with defending champion Fernando Alonso for the 2007, Hamilton was confirmed
as the team's second driver. He was told of McLarens decision on September 30, but the
news was not made public until November 24, for fear that it would be overshadowed by
Michael Schumachers retirement announcement.

3. Formula One career

Hamilton's first F1 victory came at the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix. Hamilton after taking
pole at the 2007 US Grand Prix. It was announced prior to the start of the season that
Hamilton would be partnering defending double World Champion Fernando Alonso who
had joined McLaren after leaving Renault. On his dbut at the Australian Grand Prix, he
qualified fourth and finished third in the race, becoming the thirteenth driver to finish on
the podium in his first F1 career race (excluding those in the first ever World
Championship round). In Bahrain, Hamilton got his first front-row start, qualifying and
finishing second behind Felipe Massa. Hamilton again finished second behind Massa in
the Spanish Grand Prix, to take the lead in the drivers championship.This meant that
Hamilton took the record from Bruce McLaren as the youngest driver to ever lead the
world championship.
Hamilton finished second behind Alonso at Monaco and afterwards suggested he was
prevented from racing his team mate. But the FIA cleared McLaren following an
investigation Hamilton had both his first pole position and first victory of his F1 career in
the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal. He led for most of the race even after the safety car
was deployed four times increasing the chances of his being overtaken. A week later
Hamilton won the United States Grand Prix, also from pole position, becoming the first
Briton since John Watson in 1983 to win an F1 race in the US,and only the second
person, after Jacques Villeneuve.
By finishing third at Magny-Cours behind Ferrari drivers Kimi Rikknen and Felipe
Massa, Hamilton extended his lead in the Driver's Championship to 14points. This was
the first time in his F1 career he finished a race in a lower position than he started, and
the first time he had been passed on the race track in Formula One. He took pole at his
home Grand Prix at Silverstone and led for the first 16 laps, but slipped to third, 40
seconds behind Rikknen and Alonso.
During qualifying for the European Grand Prix, Hamilton crashed at the Schumacher
chicane after a problem with the wheel nut caused by the air gun used on his car. He was
taken to the circuit's medical centre on a stretcher with an oxygen mask and drip, but was
conscious throughout. He was unable to complete qualifying and his Q2 time was
surpassed by all other competitors during Q3, thus he qualified in tenth
4. Team tensions
Hamilton on the top step of the podium after winning the 2007 United States Grand Prix.
He is flanked by team-mate Fernando Alonso (left) and Felipe Massa (right). Hamilton's
relationship with McLaren team boss Ron Dennis dates back to 1995, with the first
indication that Hamilton was unhappy with his team appearing after he finished second at
Monaco in 2007.
After post-race comments made by Hamilton which suggested he had been forced into a
supporting role, the FIA initiated an inquiry to determine whether McLaren had broken
rules by enforcing team orders. McLaren denied favouring double world champion
Fernando Alonso, and the FIA subsequently vindicated the team, stating that: "McLaren
were able to pursue an optimum team strategy because they had a substantial advantage
over all other cars.

They did nothing which could be

described as interfering with the
race result". The tensions within
the team surfaced again at the 007
Hungarian Grand Prix. During the final qualifying session for the race Hamilton was
delayed in the pits by Alonso and thus unable to set a final lap time before the end of the
session. McLaren pointed out that Hamilton had disobeyed an earlier instruction to let
Alonso pass in qualifying. Alonso was relegated to sixth place on the starting grid, thus
elevating Hamilton (who had originally qualified second) to first, while McLaren were
docked constructors championship points. Hamilton said he thought Alonso's penalty was
"quite light if anything" and only regretted the loss of constructors' points. Hamilton was
reported to have sworn at Dennis on the team radio following the incident.British
motorsport journal Autosport claimed that this "[led] Dennis to throw his headphones on
the pit wall in disgust (a gesture that was misinterpreted by many to be in reaction to
Alonso's pole)". However McLaren later issued a statement on behalf of Hamilton which
denied the use of any profanity. As a result of these events, the relationship between
Hamilton and Alonso temporarily collapsed, with the pair not on speaking terms for a
short period.In the aftermath it was reported that Hamilton had been targeted by Luca
Cordero di Montezemolo regarding a Ferrari drive for 2008.
Following the stewards' investigation into the incident at the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix,
Alonso insinuated that the verdict had settled the championship in Hamilton's favour,
saying: "Im not thinking of this championship anymore, its been decided off the track.
The drivers briefing has no purpose. You go there to hear what Charlie Whiting and the
other officials say. Twenty one drivers have an opinion, Charlie and the officials another,
and soits like talking to a wall".
The rivalry between Hamilton and teammate Alonso led to speculation that one of the
pair would leave McLaren at the end of the 2007 season and Alonso and McLaren
subsequently terminated their contract by mutual consent on November 2, 2007.

5.

Racial abuse
On February 4, 2008, Lewis Hamilton was verbally heckled and otherwise abused during
pre-season testing at the Circuit de Catalunya in Catalonia by several Spanish spectators
who wore black face paint and black wigs, as well as shirts bearing the words "Hamilton's
family". Hamilton became widely unpopular in Spain because of his rivalry with Spanish
former team-mate Fernando Alonso. The FIA have warned Spanish authorities about the
repetition of such behaviour. In reaction to this behaviour, the FIA announced on 13
February 2008 that it will launch a "Race Against Racism" campaign. Shortly before the
2008 Brazilian Grand Prix, a Spanish website named "pinchalaruedadeHamilton" (burst
Hamilton's tyre) was featured in the British media. The website contained an animated
image of Interlagos that allowed users to leave nails and porcupines on the track for
Hamilton's car to run over. Among thousands of anti-Hamilton comments left since 2007,
some included racial insults.
6. Helmet
Due to the fact that Hamilton has said in the past that Ayrton Senna was his hero, some
people assumed that his helmet is yellow in honour of him.In actuality it was made
yellow so that his father could tell which kart his son was driving back in his karting
days.
Hamilton chose the colours blue, green and red and they were originally in a ribbon
design however Hamilton later felt that the design was "a bit old hat" so it was changed.
In later years a white ring was added and the ribbons moved forward to make room for
adverts and logos.
7. Records
Hamilton has matched or set the following records in Formula One:

Most consecutive podiums from debut race: 9 Australian GP 2007 British GP 2007
(previous record was 2 by Peter Arundell Monaco GP 1964 Dutch GP 1964)

Most consecutive podiums for a British driver: 9 Australian GP 2007 British GP

2007 (tied with Jim Clark Belgian GP 1963 South African GP 1963)

Youngest driver to lead the World Championship: 22 years, 4 months, 8 days at the
Bahrain GP 2007 (Previous record was 23 years, 7 months, 22 days by Fernando Alonso
at the Malaysian GP 2005)

Most wins in a debut season: 4, Canadian, USA, Hungarian and Japanese GPs 2007
(equalling Jacques Villeneuve, European, British, Hungarian and Portuguese GPs 1996)

Most pole positions in a debut season: 6, Canadian, USA, British, Hungarian, Japanese
and Chinese GPs 2007 (Previous record was 3 held jointly by Jacques Villeneuve (1996)
and Juan Pablo Montoya (2001))

Youngest F1 World Champion (2008 season) 23 years, 8 months, 26 days, previously

held by Fernando Alonso with 24 years and 58 days. Hamilton is the first driver of black
heritage to compete in Formula One (although Willy T. Ribbs tested an F1 car in
1986[84] ) and the first driver of black heritage to win a major race at Indianapolis Motor
Speedway in any discipline. In addition, he is the third youngest driver to achieve an F1
pole position, and the fourteenth F1 driver to achieve a podium finish on his debut.
Hamilton is also the first champion of the European Formula Two, International
8. Conclusion
His motto Dare to be greatest. Inspire, spread love and live every day
to the fullest. 3x Formula One World Champion & Believer that
anything is possible
Hamilton has been the driver to beat the last two seasons, claiming 11 and 10 race wins respectively to
win back-to-back titles with Mercedes.
He has been pushed hard by his team-mate Nico Rosberg while last season Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel
was on the fringes of the title fight.
This year the Brit is yet again the favourite to take the crown, however, Heidfeld reckons Formula 1
needs a change.
"I would hope that we see some more teams doing well. We have not seen any testing yet," the former
F1 driver told The Statesman.
"I would guess it will be Hamilton again taking the championship, but I would be happy if someone
else does it for the sake of the sport, to make it more interesting.
"Ferrari did very well last season. Now Renault are back and they should be more of a front-runner.
"I doubt if they would do fantastic in their first year but they have shown in the past by winning many
championships; they would definitely be a contender. Also, if they move up on engine technology, we
all know that Red Bull has always had one of the best chassis so they could be (up) there again."