Biography

 

It is well documented that at the tender age of 8, little Lewis Hamilton approached McLaren boss Ron Dennis, to advise him of his talents. The Englishman responded by telling the youngster to win some races then come talk to him again.

By the age of 10, Lewis had won his first British Kart Championship, and in the years that followed he added a further four titles to his tally.

Consequently, Dennis stuck to his word, and at the age of 13 Lewis was signed to the prestigious McLaren Driver Development Support program, the youngest driver ever to be signed up by a Formula One team.

With the backing of the multiple World Champions, Lewis won the European and World Karting Championships, claiming Karting's World No 1 status in 2000 at the tender age of 15, the youngest driver to do so. That same year, Lewis won the Elf Masters at Bercy, in addition to being recognized by the British Racing Drivers' club (BRDC) with "Rising Star" membership.

In 2001 Lewis made the move up to single-seaters, contesting the Formula Renault Winter Series (finishing fifth overall), which led to a full season of Formula Renault in 2002, which saw the youngster finish third.

He remained in Formula Renault in 2003 and was a convincing champion, winning the series with two races remaining, courtesy of 10 wins, 9 fastest laps and 11 pole positions.

For 2004, Lewis, now aged 19, moved to the highly competitive Formula 3 Euroseries, which forms part of the support program to the legendary DTM series. Driving for Manor Motorsport, in its rookie season in Europe, Lewis finished fifth, following a win at the Norisring and four further podiums. Along the way, he found time to win the Bahrain F3 Superprix and Race 1 at the Macau Grand Prix.

2005 saw Lewis progress further up the ladder, moving closer to his ultimate goal. Racing for ASM, he won the Formula 3 Euroseries, courtesy of 5 wins, 10 fastest laps and 13 Pole positions. Indeed, he won the series with four races remaining, such was his dominance.

In addition to the Formula 3 Euroseries, Lewis won the Pau F3 Grand Prix, the Monaco F3 Grand Prix and the F3 Marlboro Masters at Zandvoort, adding pole position and the lap record for good measure.

The next step was obvious, the GP2 Series, now in its second season.

If anyone in F1 hadn't heard of Lewis before, in 2006 they couldn't miss him, as he dominated the series which supports the Formula One World Championship in Europe. Despite the best efforts of Nelson Piquet Jr, Lewis took the title, and along the way produced a number of drives that had the cynics in the media room once again believing that motorsport could be exciting and fun. Five wins and 114 points doesn't do justice to some of the performances that the youngster delivered.

With the GP2 title in his pocket, and a couple of successful tests with the McLaren F1 team, not to mention a 'situation vacant' sign hanging over the second car in 2007, there was fierce speculation at to whether Lewis would make the (obvious) next step in 2007. Sure enough in late November, McLaren confirmed that the youngster would partner Fernando Alonso, who, just a few weeks earlier, had secured his second World Championship title.

There are some who believe that Lewis would have been better served spending a year as test driver for the Woking team, preparing himself for his F1 (race) entry in 2008, while others simply cannot wait to see the Englishman work his magic.

While in no way wanting to put a damper on things, it should be noted that it is unlikely we are going to witness Lewis giving the sort of performances in F1 that we witnessed in GP2 in 2006. The reason being that F1 cars are not as overtaking-friendly as their GP2 cousins. Nonetheless, there is no argument, Lewis is a good driver, and his talent will shine through. A year or so alongside Alonso should also help the youngster.

Oh, for what it's worth, Lewis Hamilton is black, a fact that the British media finds particularly exciting, never forgetting to mention that he could be the first black driver to race in F1.

Truth is, it doesn't matter what color Lewis is, he's got this far on merit, his outrageous skill as opposed to skin tone.