Lewis Hamilton
From Powersports Information Wiki Source
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lewis Hamilton (born January 7, 1985 in Stevenage, Hertfordshire) is a British formula one race car driver for the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes formula one team. Hamilton began racing at a very young age, starting it out with go-karts before moving on to cars. Like his years in karting when he reaped several titles, he was equally successfull in the field of single seaters, dishing out dominant performances in F3 and GP2 until he was finally given a chance to face the toughest challenges in the realms of Formula One.
As a racer, analysts describe Hamilton as fast and gutsy, but with restraints of a veteran who can manuever himself to victory. Hamilton has also been commended for his character as a rookie, being able to handle the pressure and shine alongside a prominent double world champion teammate and keep his head on the game while dealing with off-track issues.
Contents |
Personal Life
Lewis Carl Davidson is the son of Carmen and Anthony Lewis. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United Kingdom from Grenada in the 1950s, with his grandfather working in the London Underground. He was named after US Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis. After his parents got separated when he was two, Lewis lived with his mother and his two half-sisters Nicola and Samantha until he was ten when he moved with his father, stepmother Linda and half-brother Nicholas (has cerebral palsy). At 5, Lewis first got into racing via radio-controlled cars and won his first title, the BRCA (British Radio Car Association) championship, not long after while racing against adults. When young Lewis got into go-karting, his father had to work doubly hard as an IT manager then as a contractor, even doing three jobs at a time just so he could provide for his son's fledging career. The hard-working senior's hard work paid off as evident by Lewis' success, and his father--who now has his own computer company--will continue to support his son as his full-time manager.
Lewis attended The John Henry Newman School in Stevenage where he was a football player, playing alongside current Aston Villa and England International midfielder Ashley Young. Less than a year after his F1 career took off, Lewis announced on the 29th of October 2007 his decision to leave his hometown of Tewin Wood, Hertfordshire and live in Switzerland, to join the likes of F1 world champions Michael Schumacher, Kimi Räikkönen and Fernando Alonso, in order to get away from the media scrutiny that has hounded him while living in the United Kingdom. He also stated in an interview on the TV show Parkinson on the 10th of November 2007 that taxation, aside from privacy, was 'partly' responsible for his decision to leave his native land. On the 18th of December 2007, Lewis was caught speeding at 122 mph (196 km/h) on a French motorway. Aside from being prohibited to drive in France for a month, his Mercedes car was impounded.
When he's away from the spotlight or free from his racing duties, the 5-foot-7, 150-pound Lewis spends his time listening to music, playing the guitar, reading books, working out in the gym, go cycling or karting, playing tennis or squash, watching movies or DVDs, partying with friends or just spending time with his family and pals. His favorite musical genre ranges from hip-hop to r&b, to reggae, to funky house. His favorite musical artists include The Roots, De La Soul, 2Pac, Biggie, Nas, Bob Marley, Sizzla, Sean Paul, Freddie McGregor, UB40, Chaka Demus & Piliers, Beenie Man, Sanchez, and Warrior King.
Early Career
Karting
Hamilton started racing since his father bought him his first go-kart as a Christmas present when he was just six. He continued his karting when he was eight and competed at the Rye House Kart Circuit where he began to establish himself as a winner after bagging several races and championships. A couple of years later, he won the Super One British championship and the STP Championship of the Cadet Class in 1995. A McLaren F1 supporter since he was a kid, Hamilton had a chance to talk to McLaren head honcho Ron Dennis that same year and ask for his autograph. In their encounter, the 10-year old Hamilton told Dennis, "Hi. I'm Lewis Hamilton. I won the British Championship and one day I want to be racing your cars." Dennis replied by writing this on Hamilton's autograph book: "Phone me in nine years, we'll sort something out then."
A year later, Hamilton won the Cadet Class of the McLaren Mercedes Champions of the Future series, the Sky TV Kart Masters Championship, and was also the Five Nations Champion. Another year later, he made a move from Cadet level to the Junior Yamaha class, winning the 1997 Super One British Championship and the McLaren Mercedes Champions of the Future series. In 1998, while being elevated to the Junior Yamaha division, Hamilton finally got his most anticipated call from Dennis, who gave him a deal six years sooner than he expected. Dennis signed him a deal to the McLaren driver development program which include an option of a future F1 seat, making him the youngest ever driver to secure a contract which later resulted in an F1 drive. That year, he placed runner-up in the McLaren Mercedes Champions of the Future series and fourth in the Italian Open Championship.
In 1999, he moved to the Junior Intercontinental A division and won the Italian "Industrials" Championship while adding the Vice European Championship and the Trophy de Pomposa as the fourth place finisher in the Italian Open Championship. He was elevated to the Formula A in 2000 and teamed up with future F1 rival Nico Rosberg at Team MBM.com in his first full season at the seniors competition. That year he took the four-round European FA title, shortly adding up the World Cup Championship, before concluding the remarkable year with a win at the Masters at Bercy. Following his Karting World Number 1 award, Hamilton was named a ‘Rising Star’ Member in 2000 by the British Racing Drivers' Club.
In 2001, he joined the Formula Super A ranks, still with Team MBM.com but placed only 15th in a winless 10-race campaign. He also competed with Rosberg, renowned Formula One driver Michael Schumacher---who made a brief return to karting---, and another future rival Vitantonio Liuzzi where the Briton ended up in 7th place behind 3rd place Schumacher.
Formula Renault and Formula Three
That year, he took a step towards car racing but skipped Formula Ford, going straight to the Formula Renault Winter series. In 2002, he competed in the Formula Renault UK with team Manor Motorsport and placed third overall in the championship race, claiming three wins, three pole positions, and three fastest laps. He also raced in four out of the nine Eurocup rounds where he won once with three podiums, placing 5th in the Championship. His decision to stick to Formula Renault a year later would pay off as he recorded ten victories, had eleven pole positions with nine fastest laps en route to claiming the British Formula Renault title. After securing the title with two rounds to spare, Hamilton made his jump to F3, unfortunately his debut at Brands Hatch was abbreviated by an accident after crashing his car on the third lap in testing and was later on hospitalized after colliding with teammate Tor Graves. He managed to return to form and qualified on pole position in the Korean Grand Prix despite only his first race on the track and competing in only his fourth F3 race before another incident ended his chances of winning.
By 2004, Hamilton competed in the German-based F3 Euroseries and turned out a sound maiden year, posting a win and two third-place finishes at the Norisring and the Nürburgring to conclude the series in 5th place, before going over to the inaugural Bahrain Super Prix with a dominating performance that netted him a win in Macau before bowing to his future GP2 teammate Alex Premat. In 2005, Hamilton left Manor to join reigning Euroseries champions ASM Formule 3 and posted another dominating performance, this time around going all the way to claim the championship after winning 15 out of the 20 races with 13 pole positions and 10 fastest laps. Adding a footnote to his remarkable rise was his victories at the F3 Masters at Zandvoort, the Monaco F3 Grand Prix, and the Pau F3 Grand Prix in France.
Hamilton's remarkable success earned him a spot at the “Top 50 Drivers of 2005” list of British magazine Autosport, listing him as no.24.
GP2
After pocketing almost every title there is, Hamilton moved over into the more challenging GP2 Series and replaced former TeamMBM.com teammate Rosberg in ASM's sister team and preseason favorites, ART Grand Prix, teaming up with Premat. Hamilton began his debut with a podium at Valencia, before dominating with a double win at the Nürburgring despite a speeding penalty in the pit lane. He also had a stunning move at Silverstone after overtaking two rivals at Becketts, a series of high-speed (up to 150 mph in a GP2 car) bends where overtaking is rare. He also put up a huge comeback in Istanbul, recovering from a spin to come back from 18th place deep to come in second in the final corners. His win at Monaco and double victories at Silverstone was his lasts of the season, yet he still managed to beat Nelson Piquet Jr. by twelve points after scoring 114.
Formula One
McLaren (2007)
In the wake of F1 superstar Michael Schumacher's retirement, McLaren decided that it was time to tap the services of their potential superstar. When Juan Pablo Montoya left the team for NASCAR, and the young Räikkönen defecting to Ferrari, team boss Ron Dennis told Hamilton on the 30th of September that he was next in line for the team's second driver seat opposite reigning champion Fernando Alonso for 2007. The news however was only broken a couple months later after Schumacher announced his retirement.
Eager to prove himself, Hamilton did not waste any time going into his debut race, qualifying fourth in the Australian Grand Prix and eventually just finishing the race 18 and a half seconds behind Alonso at third place, putting himself in the elite group by becoming the 14th driver to finish on the podium in their first F1 race (excluding those in the first ever World Championship round). In only his second race, the Briton outdid himself after qualifying fourth in Malaysia then finishing behind teammate Alonso in the race for McLaren's first 1-2 finish of the season. He consistently placed himself in the second spot for four straight races including runner up finishes to Felipe Massa in Bahrain and Spain, putting himself in the record books again as the youngest driver to lead the world championship after Bruce McLaren.
The McLaren team recorded its second 1-2 finish in Monaco with Hamilton finishing behind Alonso, but the successful run instead created a rift between the teammates---after Hamilton suggested that his team prevented him from racing Alonso---which could not be patched up for quite some time, putting the teammates in non-speaking terms for awhile. The "rivalry" seemed to have fired Hamilton up in the ensuing races after he topped the Canadian and United States Grands Prix from pole position to become only the first Briton to win an F1 race in American soil since John Watson did in 1983, and only the second rookie after Jacques Villeneuve to win more than one race since the first year of the Championship. His third place finish in the French Grand Prix maintained his solid hold of the lead for the Driver's Championship.
Hamilton had the chance to pad up the points in his home race at Silverstone after leading the first 16 laps but had to settle for a third place finish behind Räikkönen and Alonso. However, in the next race at the European Grand Prix, Hamilton's 9-GP streak of finishing in the top three was snapped. Prior to the race, Hamilton had to be stretched out to a medical facility after a problem with the wheel nut air gun used on his car caused him to crash during qualifying and had to settle for the 10th position. The actual race was red-flagged due to heavy rainstorm but Hamilton had to settle for a ninth place finish which consequently reduced his lead in the championship points over Alonso and Massa.
Another controversy rocked the McLaren team in the following race at Hungary during qualifying after Alonso, who had set the fastest time, was demoted to fifth on the grid due to a penalty when he prevented Hamilton from leaving the pit lane in time to complete his final qualifying lap. Despite the team being deducted any points as a penalty for Alonso's actions, Hamilton still racked up the win from pole position in a close race with Ferrari's Räikkönen. Though the teammates seemed to have settled their differences in the Turkish Grand Prix, an unfortunate tyre problem in Turkey left Hamilton with a fifth place finish which reduced his lead all the more in the title race. He managed to crawl back to second place behind his teammate in Italy but his fourth place finish in the Belgian Grand Prix cut his lead to two in the driver's championship. Hamilton won his fourth GP in the rain-filled Japanese Grand Prix, and with the "aid" of Alonso's retirement, was able to pad his lead back to 12.
With a comfortable lead and a pole position entering the Chinese Grand Prix, Hamilton was poised to increase his separation from the other championship contenders. Unfortunately, miscalculations and tyre problems forced him to retire for the first time in his F1 career, leaving the Briton just four and seven points ahead from his closest challengers Alonso and Räikkönen, respectively. Come Brazilian Grand Prix, Hamilton could not deliver a winning form, mainly because of gearbox problems and major incidents involving other drivers, to preserve his lead in the driver's championship and with Räikkönen flawless in the remaining laps, Hamilton settled for a 7th place finish and runner-up overall behind Räikkönen for the world title.
After the race concluded, the FIA conducted an investigation on whether both BMW Sauber and Williams had fuel irregularities. The result of the investigation, had both teams been found out to be guilty, would help Hamilton's cause for the world title as it would promote him to a 5th place finish in Brazil and would take the lead from Räikkönen by one. But the results would stick as the investigation produced no "sufficient doubt as to render it inappropriate to impose a penalty." McLaren appealed the decision, but Hamilton for his part, admitted that he does not want to win the title at the expense of other drivers' penalties.
McLaren (2008)
With Alonso and McLaren parting ways on the 2nd of November, McLaren decided to tap the services of Heikki Kovalainen, formerly of Renault. Hamilton for his part got a contract renewal with the team after signing a 5-year multi-million pound deal that will hook him up with McLaren-Mercedes for the next five seasons or until the end of 2012.
Controversies
McLaren Issues
Hamilton's post race comments---that he has been forced to give way to Alonso---after finishing second in Monaco not only created a rift between him and his teammate, but also prompted the FIA to investigate McLaren if they had broken rules by enforcing team orders. Investigations eventually cleared the team but the incident signalled the beginning of the "feud" which would drag for several months.
The McLaren protagonists were at it again during the 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix after Hamilton was delayed in the pits and thus unable to set a final lap before the end of the session. As it turned out, Hamilton was said to have disobeyed the plan to let Alonso past in qualifying. In the end, McLaren and Alonso were penalized with the former losing constructor's points and the latter demoted to sixth place on the grid. Hamilton, who later on qualified first, was not symphatetic for his teammate's loss, even commented that the penalty was "quite light." Following the incident, Hamilton was reportedly swearing to Ron Dennis on the team radio but statements issued by the team on behalf of Hamilton denied the Briton's use of profanity.
Hamilton was also involved in an incident at the Japanese GP where he was investigated by the race stewards over his involvement in an incident behind the safety car. The incident saw both Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber crash out of the race while following the McLaren. The trio were later on cleared on the Friday of the Chinese Grand Prix weekend.
Racisms
Hamilton was a subject of racial abuse during the pre-season testing at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain on the 4th of February 2008. FIA has given the Spanish authorities a warning about the repetition of such behaviour, in addition to the "Race Against Racism" campaign that it announced on the 13th of February 2008.
Awards
2007
- MOTOR SPORTS ASSOCIATION - Hawthorn Memorial Trophy
- MOTORSPORT AKTUELL - Driver of the Year 2007
- SQUARE MILE SPORT AWARDS 2007 - Sports Person of the Year
- SPORTS JOURNALIST ASSOCIATION - Sportsman of the Year; Best International Newcomer award
- ITALIAN CONFARTIGIANATO MOTORI - Racing Driver of the Year
- PRIDE OF BRITAIN - Most Inspiring Public Figure Award
- GQ UK - Sportsman of the Year
- GQ GERMANY - Man of the Year
- BILD AM SONNTAG - Golden Steering Wheel Award for Outstanding Achievement
- AUTOCAR AWARD - Motorsport Award
- WALPOLE AWARDS FOR BRITISH EXCELLENCE 2007 - British Sporting Excellence
- F1 RACING MAGAZINE’S MAN OF THE YEAR AWARDS - Driver of the Year; Man of the Year; Rookie of the Year; Qualifier of the Year; Personality of the Year
- AUTOSPORT AWARDS - Best British Competition Driver; Best International Racing Driver; Rookie of the Year
- BRDC ANNUAL AWARDS - 2007 Gold Star Winner
- BBC EAST SPORTS AWARDS - Sports Personality of the Year
Records
- Most consecutive podiums from debut race: 9 (previous record was 2)
- Most consecutive podiums for a British driver: 9 (tied with Jim Clark)
- Youngest driver to lead the World Championship.
- Most wins in a debut season: 4 (equalling Jacques Villeneuve's record from 1996)
- Most pole positions in a debut season: 6
Results and Records
Career Summary
| Season | Series | Team Name | No. | Races | Poles | Wins | Points | Final Placing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | World Formula A Championship | TeamMBM.com (CRG/Parilla) | 1 | 0 | N/A | DNF | ||
| European Formula A Championship | TeamMBM.com (CRG/Parilla) | 9 | 5 | 75 | 1st | |||
| Formula A World Cup | TeamMBM.com (CRG/Parilla) | 1 | 1 | N/A | 1st | |||
| 2001 | Formula Super A World Championship | TeamMBM.com (Parolin/Parilla) | 15 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 15th |
| 2002 | Formula Renault UK | Manor Motorsport | 25 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 274 | 3rd |
| 2003 | Formula Renault UK | Manor Motorsport | 3 | 15 | 11 | 10 | 419 | 1st |
| 2004 | Formula 3 Euroseries | Manor Motorsport | 35 | 20 | 1 | 1 | 69 | 5th |
| 2005 | Formula 3 Euroseries | ASM Formule 3 | 6 | 20 | 11 | 15 | 172 | 1st |
| 2006 | GP2 Series | ART Grand Prix | 2 | 21 | 1 | 5 | 114 | 1st |
| 2007 | Formula One | Vodafone McLaren Mercedes | 2 | 17 | 6 | 4 | 109 | 2nd |
| 2008 | Formula One | Vodafone McLaren Mercedes |
Complete Formula One Results
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | WDC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Vodafone McLaren Mercedes | McLaren MP4-22 | Mercedes FO 108T 2.4 V8 | AUS 3 | MAL 2 | BHR 2 | ESP 2 | MON 2 | CAN 1 | USA 1 | FRA 3 | GBR 3 | EUR 9 | HUN 1 | TUR 5 | ITA 2 | BEL 4 | JPN 1 | CHN Ret | BRA 7 | 2nd | 109 | ||
| 2008 | Vodafone McLaren Mercedes | McLaren MP4-23 | Mercedes FO 108T 2.4 V8 | AUS | MAL | BHR | ESP | TUR | MON | CAN | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | EUR | BEL | ITA | SIN | CHN | JPN | BRA |
References
- Lewis Hamilton Crash.Net Profile
- Lewis Hamilton McLaren Mercedes Bio
- Lewis Hamilton Wikipedia
- Lewis Hamilton: The Trailblazing Rookie at McLaren-Mercedes
External Links
- Lewis Hamilton Official Website
- Lewis Hamilton Fans Club
- Lewis Hamilton F1 Site
- Lewis Hamilton Fan and Inspirational Site
