Lewis Hamilton – Biog (wikepedia)

 

Lewis Hamilton
Formula One World Championship career

Lewis Carl Hamilton (born January 7, 1985 in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England) is a British Formula One (F1) driver. Hamilton started racing karts at the age of eight. When he was nine, he approached McLaren F1 team boss Ron Dennis at an awards ceremony and told him he would drive for McLaren one day; four years later, Hamilton was signed to the McLaren driver development support programme. Hamilton became European karting champion in 2000 with maximum points and made a successful transition to racing cars the following year. He progressed through the junior formulae, achieving titles in Formula Renault, Formula 3 and GP2. He was appointed as a Formula One driver for McLaren in 2007. In his first season in the top international single seater category he became the first rookie driver to lead the world championship, finishing on the podium in his first eight races and winning twice by the mid point of the season.

Personal and early life

Hamilton’s paternal grandparents emigrated to the United Kingdom from Grenada in the 1950s. His grandfather worked on the London Underground. His mother Carmen, and father Anthony (who is now an IT consultant), named him after the US Olympic gold medal winning athlete Carl Lewis. Hamilton’s parents separated when he was two. Until he was ten Hamilton lived with his mother; after that he lived with his father, step-mother and half-brother Nicholas who has cerebral palsy. At six, Hamilton began his racing career when his father bought him his first go-kart. Anthony Hamilton held down three jobs to support his son’s career and still found enough time to attend all of his races. Hamilton attended The John Henry Newman School in Stevenage.^[3] Hamilton took up karate at an early age when his driving attracted the attentions of the local bullies. By the time he was twelve, he gained his first black belt in the sport. Hamilton extended his skills to football, playing in his school team alongside current Aston Villa forward Ashley Young as a midfielder.

Racing career

Karting

Hamilton began karting in 1993 at the age of eight, and quickly began winning races and championships. When he was nine, he approached McLaren F1 team boss Ron Dennis and told him, “I’m going to race for you one day… I’m going to race for McLaren”.

Hamilton started in the Cadet ranks (1993-6). His subsequent progress though the Junior Yamaha (1997) and Junior Intercontinental A (1998-9) divisions earned him attention from Team McLaren, who signed him to the McLaren driver development support programme. This contract included an option of a future F1 seat, thus making Hamilton the youngest ever driver to secure an F1 contract.

Lewis Hamilton continued his progress in the Intercontinental A (1999), Formula A (2000) and Formula Super A (2001) ranks, and became European Champion in 2000 with maximum points. In Formula A and Formula Super A, racing for TeamMBM.com, his team mate was Nico Rosberg, who would later drive for the Williams team in Formula One. Following his karting successes, the British Racing Drivers’ Club made him a ‘Rising Star’ Member in 2000.

Junior Formulae

Hamilton began his car racing career in the 2001 British Formula Renault Winter Series, finishing fifth overall. This led to a full 2002 Formula Renault UK campaign with Manor Motorsport. Hamilton finished third overall with three wins and three pole positions. He remained with Manor for another year and won the championship with ten wins and 419 points to the two wins and 377 points of this nearest rival, Alex Lloyd. Having clinched the championship, Hamilton missed the last two races of the season to make his début in the season finale of the British Formula Three Championship. Here he was less successful: in the first race he was forced out with a puncture,and in the second he crashed out and was taken to hospital after a collision with his team-mate Tor Graves.^[9] He did show his speed at both the Macau and Korean Grands Prix. In the latter he qualified on pole position in his first visit to the Korean track and in only his fourth race outing in a F3 car.

Hamilton and Manor then made their debut in the 2004 Formula Three Euroseries. They won just one race and Hamilton was fifth in the championship. He also won the Bahrain F3 Superprix and raced one of the Macau F3 Grand Prix. Hamilton first tested for McLaren in late 2004, at Silverstone.

He moved to reigning Euroseries champions ASM for the 2005 season and dominated the championship, winning 15 of the 20 rounds. He also won the Marlboro Masters of Formula 3 at Zandvoort.

After the season, British magazine Autosport featured him in their “Top 50 Drivers of 2005” issue, ranking Hamilton 24th. After Hamilton’s success in Formula Three, he was signed by ART Grand Prix for the 2006 GP2 Series season. Like ASM in F3, ART were the class of the field and reigning champions having taken the 2005 GP2 crown with Nico Rosberg. Hamilton won the GP2 championship at his first attempt.

Among his notable performances was a dominant win at the fifth round held at the Nürburgring, despite serving a penalty for speeding in the pit lane. At his home race at Silverstone, supporting the British Grand Prix, Hamilton impressed again by overtaking two rivals at Becketts, a series of high-speed (up to 150 mph in a GP2 car) bends where overtaking is rare. He demonstrated his overtaking prowess again at the race in Istanbul, when he recovered from a spin that left him 18th, to take second place in the final corners. He became GP2 champion in unusual circumstances. Giorgio Pantano won the penultimate race at Monza, and set the fastest lap on the final lap, initially taking this bonus point from Hamilton. However, it transpired that he had set this under a yellow flag, indicating to the officials that he had not slowed enough to avoid potential danger, leading to him losing the fastest lap, which therefore gave Hamilton the single point he needed to clinch the title.

His 2006 GP2 championship coincided with a vacancy at McLaren following the departure of Juan Pablo Montoya to NASCAR and Kimi Räikkönen to Ferrari.

 

 

Hamilton finished second in Malaysia, making it two podiums from two starts.

After months of speculation on whether Hamilton, Pedro de la Rosa, Gary Paffett or former World Champion Mika Häkkinen would drive for McLaren alongside defending champion Fernando Alonso in 2007, Hamilton was confirmed as the team’s second driver. This surprised many F1 insiders, who felt the more experienced Paffett and de la Rosa were more qualified for a race seat. He was told of McLaren’s decision on September 30, but the news was not made public until November 24, for fear that it would be overshadowed by Michael Schumacher’s retirement announcement.

Formula One

 

 

Hamilton driving for McLaren at the 2007 Malaysian Grand Prix.

On his début at the 2007 Australian Grand Prix, he qualified fourth and finished third in the race, thus becoming the fourteenth driver to finish on the podium on his GP début (excluding those in the first ever World Championship round). In Bahrain, Hamilton got his first front-row start, qualifying and finishing second behind Felipe Massa. Hamilton again finished second in the Spanish Grand Prix, again behind Massa, to take the lead in the drivers championship. With that achievement, Hamilton surpassed Bruce McLaren to become the youngest driver to ever lead the world championship.

Hamilton has been widely praised. Williams team boss Frank Williams described him as “superhuman”, while triple world champions Jackie Stewart and Niki Lauda are among those who have speculated that Hamilton could win the 2007 championship. Ex-Jordan owner Eddie Jordan disagreed, believing that while Hamilton has exceptional talent, he will not win the championship this season. Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher said that Hamilton’s potential was evident during his GP2 season, but he was surprised at the consistency Hamilton has shown so early in his career.

However, Hamilton suffered criticism from former driver and 1997 champion Jacques Villeneuve, who accused him of “nitty gritty” at the start of Grands Prix. Villeneuve compared his starts to controversial ones made by Michael Schumacher. Hamilton’s driving was soon defended by fellow drivers, including Giancarlo Fisichella, Alexander Wurz, Nick Heidfeld, Mark Webber and Felipe Massa.

Controversy surrounded Hamilton’s finishing position in the 2007 Monaco Grand Prix. After comments made by Hamilton post-race which suggested he had been forced into a supporting role, the FIA initiated an inquiry to determine whether McLaren had broken rules by enforcing team orders. McLaren denied favouring double world champion Fernando Alonso, and the FIA subsequently vindicated the team, stating that: “McLaren were able to pursue an optimum team strategy because they had a substantial advantage over all other cars. They did nothing which could be described as interfering with the race result.”

Hamilton gained the first pole position of his F1 career in the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix. On race day, Hamilton led almost continuously from start to finish, despite having his lead cut on the four occasions the safety car was deployed. The win strengthened his championship challenge. A week later, Hamilton won the United States Grand Prix also from pole position, becoming the first Briton since John Watson in 1983 to do so and only the second person to win more than one race in his first F1 Championship season since the first year of the Championship itself. The win extended his lead in the World Championship to ten points over teammate Alonso. Two weeks later, starting from second on the grid, Hamilton finished third in France behind Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa.

Records

Hamilton has matched or set the following records in Formula One:

• Most consecutive podiums from debut race: 8 (previous record was 2)
• Youngest driver to lead the World Championship.
• First driver to achieve consecutive wins from pole position in debut season.

Hamilton is the first black driver of African or Caribbean descent to compete and win a race in Formula One, although Willy T. Ribbs had tested an F1 car in 1986.^[28] He is also the first of black descent to win a major race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in any discipline. In addition, he is the third youngest driver to achieve an F1 pole position, and only the thirteenth driver in F1 history to achieve a podium finish on his debut.

source: wikipedia

Category: Lewis Hamilton Updates