Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Carl Hamilton is a British Formula One racing driver from England. He will drive for the McLaren team in the 2007 Formula One season.

As early as 1994, Lewis had introduced himself to McLaren team boss Ron Dennis, at that Year's Autosport Awards, asking if he could drive for the team in the future.

In 1998 he was signed to the McLaren Driver Development Support programme. The contract included a future option on an F1 seat making Lewis, 13 at the time, the youngest driver ever to have an F1 contract.

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

After a long period of speculation of whether he, Pedro de la Rosa, Gary Paffett, or even Mika Häkkinen would drive for McLaren alongside World Champion Fernando Alonso for the 2007 Formula One season, Lewis was confirmed as the team's second driver. He was told of McLaren’s decision on September 30th, but the news was not made public until November 24th, for fear that it would be overshadowed by Michael Schumacher’s retirement announcement.

Lewis will be the first black driver with prominent African or Caribbean ancestry to compete in Formula One, since Willy T. Ribbs tested a Formula One car over 20 years ago.

Nationality : British
Date of Birth : 07/01/85
Place of Birth : Stevenage , UK
Height : 1.74m
Weight : 68kg
Resident : UK
Favourite Music : R & B, Reggae, Hip-Hop, and funky house
Hobbies : Playing the guitar, music, training

Formula 1 Statistics(after 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix)
Grand Prix Debut : 2007 Australian GP
Grand Prix Starts : 17
Grand Prix Points : 109
Grand Prix Wins : 4
Pole Positions : 6
Fastest Laps : 2
Number of Finishes : 16
Number of Podiums : 12
Number of finishes in Points : 15
Number of Doubles(pole position & win) : 4
Number of Trebles(pole position, win & fastest lap) : 1

FORMULA 1
2007 : Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: Driver

2007 AWARDS
SQUARE MILE SPORT AWARDS 2007 : Sports Person of the Year
ITALIAN CONFARTIGIANATO MOTORI : Racing Driver of the Year
PRIDE OF BRITAIN : Most Inspiring Public Figure Award
GQ UK : Sportsman of the Year
GQ GERMANY : Man of the Year
BILD AM SONNTAG : Golden Steering Wheel Award for Outstanding Achievement
AUTOCAR AWARD : Motorsport Award
WALPOLE AWARDS FOR BRITISH EXCELLENCE 2007 : British Sporting Excellence
F1 RACING MAGAZINE’S MAN OF THE YEAR AWARDS : Driver of the Year, Man of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Qualifier of the Year, Personality of the Year

AUTOSPORT AWARDS : Best British Competition Driver, Best International Racing Driver, Rookie of the Year
BRDC ANNUAL AWARDS2007 : Gold Star Winner
BBC EAST SPORTS AWARDS : Sports Personality of the Year

COMPETITION HISTORY
2006
GP2 Series: Champion with ART Grand Prix; five wins; six fastest laps; first double win at the Nürburgring; pole position and winner of Monaco GP2 race; second double win at Silverstone in home race; seven 2 nd place and two 3 rd place podiums
2005
F3 Euroseries: Champion with ASM F3 Dallara-Mercedes; 15 wins; 10 fastest laps; 13 pole positions; secured championship with four races remaining; winner of F3 Masters at Zandvoort including pole position and lap record; winner of the Monaco F3 Grand Prix including two pole positions and two race wins and one fastest lap; winner of Pau F3 Grand Prix in France; two pole positions, two race wins and two fastest laps
2004
F3 Euroseries: fifth; one win and third place at the Norisring and the Nürburgring; winner of Bahrain F3 Superprix
2003
British Formula Renault: Champion; 10 wins; nine fastest laps and 11 pole positions; Champion before final two rounds
2002
British Formula Renault: third; three wins; three fastest laps; three pole positions; Formula Renault EuroCup Championship fifth; one win three podiums; competed in four out of nine rounds
2001
British Formula Renault Winter Series; fifth overall.
2000
Formula A: European Champion; winner of all four rounds; World Cup Champion; awarded Karting World Number 1; winner of Masters at Bercy; Founder member of BRDC ‘Rising Star' membership
1999
Intercontinental A (ICA): Italian "Industrials" Champion, Junior ICA (JICA): Vice European Champion; winner Trophy de Pomposa, 4th Italian Open Championship
1998
Junior ICA (JICA): second in McLaren Mercedes Champions of the Future series; fourth in Italian Open Championship; signed by McLaren and Mercedes-Benz to Young Driver Support Programme
1997
Junior Yamaha: Super One British Champion; winner of McLaren Mercedes Champions of the Future series
1996
Cadet Class: winner of McLaren Mercedes Champions of the Future series; Sky TV Kart Masters Champion; Five Nations Champion
1995
Cadet Class: Super One British Champion; STP Champion