Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton MBE (born 7th January, 1985 in Stevenage, England) is a British racing driver best known for his appearances in Formula One. He is a two-time World Champion, having won the Driver's Championships in 2012 and 2016.
A product of McLaren's Young Driver programme, Hamilton made his F1 debut in 2008 and has since established himself as one of the greatest Formula One drivers of all time.
Formula One
2007-2011: McLaren
Hamilton first entered the Grand Prix paddock in 2007, when he was appointed as one of the three test/reserve drivers for McLaren along with Felipe Massa and Pedro de la Rosa.
After the Spygate scandal ruled out James James Davies for 2008, Hamilton was announced as the team's second driver. Hamilton's first race saw him finish in second place behind team-leader Sammy Jones for his maiden podium. Hamilton would have to wait until the British Grand Prix in July for his first win which he doubled up on two races later in the Spanish Grand Prix. Hamilton finished his debut season in an impressive fourth place.
By 2010, Hamilton had established himself at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes and was one half of the all-British super team of himself and Jenson Button. With the new two race format introduced in 2010, Hamilton thrived in the more "sprint-like" style of the races, allowing him to pick up eight wins over the course of the season. Unfortunately for Hamilton, he would be unable to mount a serious challenge to Mercedes driver Daniel Melrose and would finish the year in second place.
The following season, Hamilton remained for another year at McLaren and was joined by Canadian prospect Robert Wickens after Button opted to join rivals Red Bull. The MP4-26 was no way as strong as the previous year's car, and as such Hamilton struggled for most of the year - picking up only three wins on his way to sixth place in the championship.
2012-2013: Red Bull
After a somewhat pedestrian 2011, Hamilton decided to follow his former teammate Button to Red Bull Racing for the 2012 season. Despite only taking four wins to season-long rival Sebastian Vettel's eight, Hamilton was able to secure the Drivers Championship on his first ask for Red Bull.
However, Hamilton would be faced with his worst season yet in 2013, as the defending champion was unable to score any wins all season - finishing in thirteenth position overall. This would be the start of a three year drought of wins.
2014-2015: Stefan Grand Prix
A dreadful 2013 saw Hamilton's stock drop heavily, and Red Bull management saw fit to bring back Button alongside young Brit Alex Lynn. A return to McLaren was briefly mooted, but it would be controversial Serbian team Stefan Grand Prix where Hamilton would line up in 2014. Stefan had unexpectedly nearly won the previous driver's title with Vitaly Petrov, but once Hamilton had joined the team - Stefan's usual midfield pace would be revived. Hamilton could only muster a single third place at the Brazilian Grand Prix on his way to another thirteenth place.
Things went from bad to absolute rock bottom in 2015 - a season where his only top ten finish was a ninth place in Malaysia. Hamilton finished the season in 28th place.
2016: Williams
Stefan's financial collapse at the end of 2015 saw Hamilton make the move to 2015 Constructors Champions WilliamsF1 alongside Dave Cassidy. Hamilton would take seven wins in 2016 on his way to another title.
At the end of the season, Hamilton announced he would take a sabbatical to focus on his other creative endeavours.
2018-2019: Caterham
Hamilton returned from his sabbatical to team with 2017 champion Sebastian Vettel at the Caterham team. Vettel and Hamilton would take the vast majority of wins in 2018, with the only real challenge coming from Dave Cassidy and Jules Bianchi of Precision Motorsport. Hamilton took thirteen wins on his way to third in the championship.
In the later stages of the season, Hamilton set the motorsport press alight when he declared an interest in racing in the AutoReject World Series at some point in the future; stating that he wanted to "test himself against the very best". Despite these rumours, Hamilton and Vettel remained teammates in 2019.
Caterham were much further back than before in 2019, with Sauber now presenting themselves as credible contenders as the competition began heating up again in F1. Hamilton was fairly pedestrian compared to the Sauber and Precision team drivers and barring a brief flurry of wins in the middle of the season, Hamilton had seemingly lost his mojo. Hamilton finished the season in sixth place - three points behind teammate Vettel.
A few days later, Hamilton announced he'd be leaving Caterham and taking another indefinite absence from Formula One.
| Sporting Accolades | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: Robert Kubica |
Formula One World Champion 2012 |
Succeeded by: James James Davies |
| Preceded by: Daniel Ricciardo |
Formula One World Champion 2016 |
Succeeded by: Sebastian Vettel |