LEWIS HAMILTON

Lewis Hamilton

DRIVER PAGE
23/03/2022

PORTRAIT

Lewis Hamilton

DOB: 07/01/1985
Age: 37
Height: 1.74m
Weight: 68kg
Status: Single
Born: Tewin, Hertfordshire, UK
Lives: Monaco

BIOGRAPHY

Lewis Hamilton

PORTRAIT

STATISTICS (PRIOR TO 2022)

DETAILS

Lewis Hamilton

BIOGRAPHY

It is well documented that at the tender age of 8, little Lewis Hamilton approached McLaren boss Ron Dennis, to advise him of his talents. The Englishman responded by telling the youngster to win some races then come talk to him again.

By the age of 10, Lewis had won his first British Kart Championship, and in the years that followed he added a further four titles to his tally.

Consequently, Dennis stuck to his word, and at the age of 13 Lewis was signed to the prestigious McLaren Driver Development Support programme, the youngest driver ever to be signed up by a Formula One team.

In 2001 Lewis made the move up to single-seaters, contesting the Formula Renault Winter Series (finishing fifth overall), which led to a full season of Formula Renault in 2002, which saw the youngster finish third.

He remained in Formula Renault in 2003 and was a convincing champion, winning the series with two races remaining, courtesy of 10 wins, 9 fastest laps and 11 pole positions.

2005 saw Lewis progress further up the ladder, moving closer to his ultimate goal. Racing for ASM, he won the Formula 3 Euroseries, courtesy of 15 wins, 10 fastest laps and 13 Pole positions. Indeed, he won the series with four races remaining, such was his dominance.

In addition to the Formula 3 Euroseries, Lewis won the Pau F3 Grand Prix, the Monaco F3 Grand Prix and the F3 Marlboro Masters at Zandvoort, adding pole position and the lap record for good measure.

The next step was obvious, the GP2 Series, now in its second season.

The British media was in mourning, in its eyes Hamilton was the rightful champion, much to the frustration of Ferrari/Raikkonen fans in the UK.

Subsequently, Lewis’s image took a slight knock when he announced late in 2007 that he was moving to Switzerland, complaining of public/media intrusion into his private life. It was several weeks before he admitted that the country’s relaxed approach to tax was another key factor.

At the time of the incident and in the weeks that followed, Hamilton handled himself well never allowing the idiots or the media furore to get to him.

Back on track, the season got off to a dream start in Australia, however the next two outings were disappointing, unable to match the pace of the Ferrari in Malaysia and making a poor start in Bahrain, having crashed in practice.

Despite the obvious tension, he performed reasonably well in Spain, while he was assisted by the Safety Car in Monaco, enabling him to return to the top step of the podium.

Canada was a major low point in his season, and indeed, his career, proof that there was still much to learn. A moment of madness saw him crash into Kimi Raikkonen at the end of the pitlane, eliminating both drivers on the spot.

There were superb wins at Silverstone and Hockenheim, while another towering performance in atrocious conditions at Spa was ruined by the subsequent intervention of the Race Stewards.

While there were moments of sheer brilliance, there were also mistakes, not merely by the youngster but also by his team, most notably the decision to stay out on the wrong rain tyres at Monza, thereby leaving him fifteenth on the grid, then there was the indifferent start in Japan.

In the season finale in Brazil, all he needed to do was finish fifth or higher in order to become the youngest champion in the history of the Formula One World Championship.

Having previously ticked all the boxes, it is remarkable that Lewis raised his game yet another notch in 2010, even if there was a little pain along the way.

From the outset it was clear that the MP4-24 was not a good car, indeed, there were times during the season when it was probably the worst out there. However, the Woking outfit refused to give in and the updates aimed at closing the gap to the opposition came thick and fast.

However, despite some bravura performances that more than flattered the MP4-24, Hamilton’s 2009 season will always be remembered for ‘Lie-gate’, the episode which saw the sport’s golden boy lose more than a little of his shine.

It was a dreadful low in the youngster’s career, coming, as it did, at what was already a difficult time what with the pressure of having to defend his title in obviously inferior equipment not to mention the loss of his mentor, team boss Ron Dennis.

Little wonder that Lewis considered leaving F1, however, in many ways he brought it upon himself, and to this day it is believed he has never fully apologised to Jarno Trulli.

Nonetheless, the youngster put it all behind him and turned his, and his team’s, season around, little wonder perhaps that many consider 2009 – other than ‘Lie-gate’ – to be his most convincing season.

Other than its driver line-up, the situation at McLaren for 2010 was also spiced up by Mercedes decision to sell its stake-holidng in the Woking team and go off to form its own operation.

A wrong call in terms of the weather ahead of qualifying in Sepang saw Lewis start the race from 20th, the Englishman doing well to bring his car home sixth next day.

He followed Istanbul with another convincing win, this time in Canada, while second places in Valencia and Britain gave him a twelve point lead in the championship.

Sidelined by a gearbox problem in Hungary, Lewis hit back with a fine performance at Spa – his first win at the classic Belgian track – despite a heart in mouth moment when he ran wide at Rivage when the conditions suddenly changed.

A second in Korea and a fourth in Brazil meant that Lewis went into the final round with an outside chance of taking the title, though the chances of it really happening went off the scale.

As it happened, in a race which turned the championship on its head, Lewis gave an uber-cool performance, bringing his MP4-25 home in second and thereby claiming fourth in the drivers’ standings.

In Canada, Lewis attempted to pass his teammate on the start/finish straight at the re-start, however, lack of visibility in the atrocious conditions meant that 2009 world champion didn’t see Hamilton and they collided.

In Hungary, Lewis enjoyed a long battle with teammate Button. At one stage however, he spun whilst leading and in the aftermath caused Paul di Resta to take avoiding action and take to the grass, thereby earning the McLaren driver another drive-through.

Despite qualifying second for the Belgian Grand Prix, Lewis was involved in a needless incident with Kamui Kobayashi thereby failing to finish a race for the second time.

After a long battle with Schumacher that had fans – and Ross Brawn’s – hearts pounding, Lewis finished fourth at Monza, while in Singapore it was business as usual, the Englishman having another close encounter with Massa.

The two collided again in Japan, Lewis recovering to finish in fifth place. While Massa called on the FIA to take action, the Englishman told his Brazilian rival to “grow up”.

In Korea, Lewis took pole position, thereby ending a run of sixteen consecutive pole positions for Red Bull. Unfortunately, Lewis only led until Turn 4 of the first lap before being passed by Vettel who went on to win the race.

In India, Lewis recorded the second-fastest time in qualifying but was penalised three places after a yellow flag infraction during Friday practice. In the race he was involved in another incident with Massa, though this time it was the Brazilian who was handed the (drive through) penalty.

In Abu Dhabi, Lewis qualified second and won the race, after pole-sitter Vettel suffered a puncture on lap 1 and retired with suspension damage, while a gearbox problem in Brazil was his first technical retirement of the season.

There were times one really worried about the youngster, such was his vulnerability. Whilst his rivals were focussing on set-ups and strategy, Lewis was talking publicly about the break up of the relationship with his girlfriend.

Bad as the spat with Massa was, it was just part of the problem, Lewis at times looking like an accident waiting to happen. Added to everything else, of course, was the fact that his teammate, having now become a fixture at Woking, was regularly out-performing him.

Even Bernie Ecclestone got in on the act, accusing Lewis of being distracted, of being star struck, while others continued to claim that he needed the calming influence offered by his father.

Ahead of 2012, his final season with McLaren under his current contract, Lewis insisted he is was focussed, claiming that Simon Fuller’s management strategy was the way forward. The photoshoot for GQ magazine however, first revealed by Pitpass in January, suggesting otherwise.

Not for the first time, Lewis punched well above his weight, not for the first time he needed to.

It was hoped that the mistakes of 2011 would have been learned from and that the MP4-27 would be good straight out of the box. However, while it was clearly on the pace to all intents and purposes 2012 was a disaster for the Woking team as it continually appeared to shoot itself in the foot.

If it wasn’t strategy it was sloppy pit work, if it wasn’t pace it was unreliability. Seven wins makes it clear that when it was good the 27 was very good, sadly, however, there were too many days when it wasn’t.

While the record book show Lewis as finishing fourth in the championship, 91 points down on Vettel, the fact is that at least two further wins were cruelly ‘stolen’ from him, while several others, most notably the qualifying cock-up in Spain, did little to help.

For the most part he appeared to have learned from 2011and there was far less silliness indeed, on numerous occasions over the course of the season he was the innocent victim.

With 7 poles it is clear the pace was there, however, his elimination from the season ending Brazilian Grand Prix just about summed up his entire year.

On 28 September, after weeks of speculation, it was revealed that Lewis was leaving the McLaren family for Mercedes. At Pitpass alone there was wide ranging difference of opinion on the move, with editor Chris Balfe, Mike Lawrence and Mat Coch all seeing it differently.

Though the first podium came in Malaysia and the first pole position in China, it was not until Hungary that Hamilton scored his first victory. Ironically, this came at just about the time Red Bull finally got to grips with its tyres and headed off into the sunset.

Though neither he nor his team was able to take the fight to Red Bull after Hungry, that weekend was somewhat special for the 2009 champ. Having taken pole against all odds, his win marked the first (F1) victory by a British driver in a Mercedes since Stirling Moss won at Silverstone in 1955.

Though the sceptics have been proven wrong, a fact underlined by McLaren’s woeful form – or lack of it – in 2013, and Lewis was clearly able to flourish away from Woking, there remained that nagging feeling that he was not doing all that he could.

Of course all that changed in 2014.

While Lewis still showed signs of those numerous flaws that have one wondering, for the most part he got on with the job in hand and his tally of 11 wins was more than enough to secure that elusive second title.

Surprisingly, he was out-classed by his teammate on Saturday afternoons but for the most part did a better job of things next day.

Whilst the title went down to the wire, with 11 wins to his tally, compared to Rosberg’s 5, had the German taken the crown there would have always been that nagging doubt. As it is, Lewis took a flawless win in the season finale whilst Rosberg also emerged with his honour intact.

With precious few rule changes for 2015 and both drivers retained we expected another strong showing from the German team, however, if 2014 was a tour-de-force, in 2015 the bar was raised even higher.

With little to worry about in terms of power or speed, the German team focussed on reliability, and the fact that the silver cars completed 96.6% of the season’s racing laps, and suffered only two DNFs, is clear proof that the Brackley outfit got that sorted also.

The numerous records established in 2014 were soon broken, not least twelve 1-2s, thirty-one podium finishes and 86% of all laps led.

If Mercedes raised its game in 2015, so too did Lewis, the Briton in a class of his own for much of the season.

On top of his qualifying game, Lewis got his season off to a dream start with a win in Melbourne. Indeed, other than a minor blip in Spain, the Briton took pole in the opening twelve races. Curiously however, it wasn’t until Japan that he was able to string three successive race wins together.

Despite that particular anomaly, Lewis was on devastating form, his wins in Bahrain and Canada being the most memorable early season stand-outs.

A strategic miscall in Monaco – in which he was involved – meant that Lewis was unable to build on that sole (2008) win, on a track synonymous with his all-time hero, whilst he was never convincing in Austria.

A highly disappointing outing in Hungary was subsequently followed by his sole DNF of the year, at Singapore. Whatever the real cause of Mercedes Singapore slip up – and most point to the tyre pressure issue at Monza – from FP1 the silver cars were at sixes and sevens.

Nonetheless, Lewis was back on form in Japan, beginning the sequence of three wins that would secure the title in Austin. How fitting that the Stevenage Rocket should secure that all-important third title in the country he so clearly loves and identifies with.

However, the win at the Circuit of the Americas was to be his last of the season, teammate Rosberg not only putting together a convincing sequence of three race wins, but also returning to his 2014 qualifying form, taking pole for the final six races.

Lewis subsequently admitted that “partying” following that Austin win had taken its toll, but was this the only reason behind his late season slump and Rosberg’s renaissance?

As well as some aggressive moves on his teammate – not forgetting the infamous cap throwing incident in Austin – Lewis was involved in some questionable public strategic spats with his team.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of these differences in opinion – and at Silverstone his call was perfect – it tended to tarnish the image.

To some, Lewis is slowly, but surely, becoming the new Nigel Mansell, a lion in the cockpit but a bit of a pain out of it.

That said, outside F1 he is becoming more and more popular, the Briton embracing the world of celebrity like a true pro. No wonder Bernie Ecclestone, ever eager to attract new fans, adores him.

Going into 2016, few were betting against him adding a fourth title, and unless that late-season blip was something more, or Ferrari really had upped its game, who were we to argue?

As it happens, Ferrari didn’t have anything up its sleeve, far from it however, Rosberg’s winning streak continued.

Indeed, a combination of poor reliability and a clearly fired-up Rosberg meant that after the opening four races Lewis was 43 points adrift of his teammate.

Then came Spain.