Lewis Carl Hamilton

Lewis Carl 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 Program.

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 labeled “the first black driver in Formula One”.

In his first season in Formula One Hamilton set numerous records and finished second in the 2007 Formula One Championship one point behind Kimi Räikkönen. 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.

Formula One World Championship career:

2008 team		Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
2008 car #		22
2009 team		Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
2009 car #		1
Races			35
Championships		1 (2008)
Wins			9
Podiums			22
Career points		207
Pole positions		13
Fastest laps		3
First race		2007 Australian Grand Prix
First win		2007 Canadian Grand Prix
Last win		2008 Chinese Grand Prix
Last race		2008 Brazilian Grand Prix
2008 position		1st (98 points)