Name: Lewis Hamilton
Born: January 7, 1985 in Stevenage, England
Team: McLaren-Mercedes
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 150 lbs.
Hobbies: Guitar, Music, Training
Previous F1 Teams:
2007 McLaren
Victories: None - Rookie Year
Background:
Lewis's climb to Formula 1 was fairy-tale like. From a modest family in England, with a white mother and a black father, Lewis began racing go-karts at age 8. He went on to win the McLaren Mercedes Champions of the Future series and at age 10 he met Ron Dennis, the owner and director of the McLaren Formula 1 team and told him he wanted to race in F1. At 13 years old McLaren signed Lewis to its young drivers program and supported his career through karting and car racing, signing him as a full-time F1 driver for the 2007 season.
His Career Thus Far:
Lewis's pre-Formula 1 career was one of the most convincing of the recent crop of young drivers. He won several karting series, including the European Formula A championship in 2000. After a year of learning in Formula Renault, he won the 2003 British Formula Renault championship with 10 victories and 11 pole positions. After a year of learning in the F3 Euroseries, he won that series in 2005 with 15 victories and 13 pole positions. In 2006 he did not even need a year of learning to win the title in his rookie year in the GP2 series, an F1 support race series.
Driving Style:
During GP2 season F1 saw the best of Lewis's driving style as he proved to be not only lightning fast, but also a gutsy driver of the old fashioned style. His passing move driving around the outside of two other drivers during the second race at Silverstone in England was a breathtaking maneuver that no one who saw will forget. He started eighth and won the race.
Character:
Lewis is a personable, level-headed driver who showed through his apprenticeship years that he can stand up to the toughest situations both on track and off without losing his head. Yet before it was announced that he would join Formula 1 in 2007 as teammate to the double world champion, Fernando Alonso, F1 specialists were divided as to whether his character would stand up to the job of being compared to the greatest young driver in F1.
In his first year in the sport, that will indeed be his biggest difficulty. Yet over the past decade Lewis proved that had the necessary strength of character, as he was called not only to perform according to the demands of the McLaren young driver program - where he was constantly under the spotlight - but also as the trailblazing first black driver to achieve those results.
