Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton MBE (born 7 January 1985 in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England) is a British Formula One racing driver, currently racing for the Mercedes AMG Petronas team. A seven-time World Champion, he is often regarded as one of the greatest F1 drivers in history.
Hamilton won the British Formula Renault, Formula Three Euroseries, and GP2 championships as his racing career advanced. He became an F1 driver for McLaren-Mercedes in , making his Formula One debut (first race) 12 years after his first meeting with Ron Dennis. Hamilton comes from a mixed-race background, with a black father and white mother. He is often labelled "the first black driver in Formula One".
In his first season in Formula One, Hamilton set many racing records. He finished second in the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship, just one point behind Kimi Räikkönen. He won his first World Championship the next season by one point ahead of Felipe Massa, overtaking Timo Glock on the final lap in Brazil. He signed for Mercedes at the end of 2012 to race for them in the 2013 season. Hamilton has gone on to win five more World Championships, all with the Mercedes team, becoming the most successful British driver in Formula One history.
Hamilton was named after American sprinter Carl Lewis. His mother, Carmen Larbalestier (now Carmen Lockhart) is British. His father's parents emigrated from Grenada to the United Kingdom in the 1950s. Hamilton's parents separated when he was two. At first he lived with his mother. When Hamilton was twelve, he started living with his father, Anthony. Hamilton was raised Roman Catholic.
Hamilton's first taste of racing came at radio-controlled cars. His father bought him one in 1991, and Hamilton did well. Hamilton started kart racing when he was six. His father bought him his first go-kart as a Christmas present. His father said he would support his racing as long as he worked hard at school. To support his son Anthony had to take extra jobs, but he found enough time to attend all of Hamilton's races.
In October 2007, Hamilton announced his intention to live in Switzerland. He said this was to avoid the media scrutiny in the United Kingdom. Hamilton later admitted on the television show "Parkinson", that taxation was part of the reason for his decision. Hamilton was publicly criticised by UK MPs, including Liberal Democrat MP Bob Russell, for avoiding UK taxes. He settled in Luins in Vaud canton on Lake Geneva.
On 18 December 2007, Hamilton was suspended from driving in France for one month. He had been caught speeding at on a French motorway. His Mercedes-Benz CLK was also impounded. Two days before the Australian Grand Prix, Victoria Police witnessed Hamilton "deliberately losing traction" in his silver Mercedes, and impounded the car for 48 hours. Hamilton immediately released a statement of apology for "driving in an over-exuberant manner". In May 2010, Hamilton was charged with intentionally losing control of a vehicle.
Hamilton was awarded an MBE by the Queen in the 2009 New Year Honours.
Hamilton began karting in 1993 at the age of eight. He quickly began winning races and class championships. At the age of ten he approached McLaren F1 team boss Ron Dennis for an autograph. He 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." Hamilton made good progress through the karting ranks. Ron Dennis signed Hamilton to the McLaren driver development program. This contract included an option of a future F1 seat. Hamilton would become the youngest ever driver to secure a contract which led in an F1 racing position.
In 2001, Michael Schumacher made a one-time 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 (see quote box).
Hamilton began his car racing career in the 2001 Formula Renault UK Winter Series. He finished fifth overall in the winter series. This led to full Formula Renault UK seasons in 2002 and 2003. Hamilton finished 2002 in third place. In 2003 he won the championship with ten wins and 419 points. Since he had enough points to win the championship, Hamilton missed the last two races of the season. He made his debut in the British Formula Three Championship at the season finale. He did show his speed at both the Macau Grand Prix and Korea Super Prix. In Korea, he qualified on pole position in his first visit to the track. It was only his fourth F3 race.
Hamilton made his debut in the Formula 3 Euro Series in 2004. Hamilton ended the year fifth in the championship. He first tested for McLaren in late 2004 at Silverstone.
Hamilton moved to the Euro Series champions ASM for the 2005 season. He dominated the championship, winning 15 of the 20 rounds. He also won the Marlboro Masters of Formula 3 at Zandvoort.
With his success in Formula Three, Hamilton moved to GP2 for the 2006 season. He won the GP2 championship at his first attempt, beating Nelson Piquet, Jr. and Timo Glock.
His 2006 GP2 championship happened at the same time there was a vacancy at McLaren. Juan Pablo Montoya left Formula on to race in NASCAR, and Kimi Räikkönen left to join Ferrari. Hamilton was confirmed as the team's second driver. He would be paired with defending champion Fernando Alonso for the season. He was told of McLaren's decision on 30 September. The news was not made public until 24 November. McLaren was afraid the news would be overshadowed by Michael Schumacher's retirement announcement.
Hamilton would be the team-mate of defending double World Champion Fernando Alonso. Alonso had joined McLaren after leaving Renault. On his debut at the Australian Grand Prix, he qualified fourth and finished third in the race. He became 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. Hamilton again finished second behind Massa in the Spanish Grand Prix. This put him in the lead in the drivers championship. Hamilton broke Bruce McLaren's record of being the youngest driver to ever lead the world championship.
Hamilton won both his first pole position and first victory of his F1 career in the Canadian Grand Prix.
During qualifying for the European Grand Prix, Hamilton crashed at the Nürburgring due to a front right tyre failure. He was unable to complete qualifying and started the race in tenth position. During a heavy rainstorm which caused the race to be temporally stopped, Hamilton slid off into a gravel trap. He was able to rejoin the race after the restart. His ninth place finish in this race was his first non-podium and non-points finish.
Hamilton won the Hungarian Grand Prix from pole position. At first, Alonso had set the fastest time, but he received a five-place grid penalty for blocking Hamilton in the pit lane; an action that prevented Hamilton from running his final qualifying lap. McLaren was also penalised and earned no constructor's points for the race.
Afterwards, Hamilton said he had restored his relationship with Alonso. He went on to qualify second in Turkey. Hamilton was running in third place. He got a flat tyre, and had to drive slowly back to the pits. He finished the race in fifth place. His championship lead was reduced.