page_title: Formula One career of Lewis Hamilton
section_title: 2007 season: A record-breaking rookie year
hierarchical_section_title: Formula One career of Lewis Hamilton / McLaren / 2007 season: A record-breaking rookie year
caption_attribution_description: Lewis Hamilton driving for McLaren at the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix.
context_page_description: Lewis Hamilton started his professional Formula One career in 2007, driving for McLaren. He won his first title in 2008 with the team to become the then-youngest champion in the history of the sport. After four more seasons with McLaren during which he failed to finish higher than fourth in the standings, Hamilton moved to Mercedes, with whom he has won a further five titles in 2014, 2015 and from 2017–2019.
context_section_description: In his first season in Formula One, Hamilton partnered defending double World Champion Fernando Alonso who had joined McLaren after leaving Renault. On his debut at the Australian Grand Prix, he finished third, becoming the 13th driver to finish on the podium on his debut. At the next two rounds in Bahrain and Barcelona, Hamilton finished second behind Felipe Massa to take the lead in the Drivers' Championship, to become the youngest driver ever to lead the World Championship. After finishing second behind Alonso at Monaco, Hamilton suggested he was prevented from racing his teammate, but the FIA cleared McLaren following an investigation. Hamilton achieved both his first pole position and first victory of his Formula One career in the Canadian Grand Prix. A week later Hamilton won the United States Grand Prix, becoming the first Briton since John Watson in 1983 to win a Formula One race in the US.
  Hamilton finished third at Magny-Cours behind Kimi Räikkönen and Felipe Massa, to extended his lead in the Drivers' Championship to 14 points. In his first home Grand Prix at Silverstone, Hamilton finished third to equal Jim Clark's 1963 record of 9 consecutive podium finishes for a British driver. This run came to an end at the European Grand Prix where during qualifying, Hamilton crashed at the Schumacher chicane after a problem with a wheel nut. He was unable to complete qualifying so started in tenth position. During a heavy rainstorm which ultimately stopped the race, Hamilton slid off into a gravel trap, but managed to keep his engine running and was lifted back on to the circuit and able to rejoin the race after the restart. He went on to finish out of the points in ninth, and was the first and only driver to have his car recovered by a crane and put back on the track during a race. The FIA subsequently banned the use of mechanical assistance to move a car back on track.
  Hamilton won the Hungarian Grand Prix from pole following a controversial qualifying session in which teammate Alonso, having set the fastest time, was given a five place grid penalty for preventing Hamilton from leaving the pit lane in time to complete his final lap. After the race Hamilton declared that he had restored his relationship with Alonso. At the Turkish Grand Prix Hamilton suffered a puncture and ultimately finished fifth. Alonso beat Hamilton in the Italian and Belgian Grands Prix, reducing Hamilton's lead in the championship to just 2 points. He increased his lead to 12 points after winning the Japanese Grand Prix in heavy rain after Alonso crashed. After the race, Hamilton was investigated by the race stewards over his involvement in an incident behind the safety car, but was cleared ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix, where Hamilton, starting from pole, retired after sliding into a gravel trap as he came into the pit lane. Hamilton went into the final race of the season four and seven points ahead of Alonso and Räikkönen respectively.
  In the Brazilian Grand Prix Hamilton finished seventh and Räikkönen won, which meant that Hamilton came second in the championship by a point. On the first lap Hamilton was passed by several cars and dropped to eighth; eight laps later he could not select a gear and ending up coasting for 40 seconds. He recovered to seventh place but Ferrari switched their two drivers allowing the championship to go to Räikkönen. Hamilton took the record of Youngest World Drivers' Championship runner-up, at 22 years and 287 days, previously held since 1960 by Bruce McLaren at 23 years and 5 days; Hamilton's record has since been beaten by Sebastian Vettel in 2009. In October the FIA began investigating BMW Sauber and Williams for fuel irregularities; the BMW drivers had finished in fifth and sixth place, and if they were to be excluded Hamilton would be promoted to fifth and would win the 2007 Drivers World Championship by one point over Räikkönen. Ultimately neither team was penalised; McLaren appealed. Hamilton subsequently told the BBC he did not want to win a Formula One title through the disqualifications of other drivers
caption: Hamilton's first Formula One win came at the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix.
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