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| Birth Name(s) : Lewis Hamilton |
Date of Birth: N/A |
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Single
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Athlete |
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Full Lewis Hamilton Biography
Hamilton's first taste of racing competition came at the controls of radio-controlled cars. Father Anthony bought him one in 1991, and Lewis finished second in the national championship the following year. Lewis said of the time: "I was racing these remote-controlled cars and winning club championships against adults". That led to Lewis sampling kart racing for the first time. Aged six, his father bought him his first go-kart as a Christmas present, and would support his racing career as long as he worked hard at school. When supporting his son became problematic Anthony Hamilton took redundancy as an IT Manager and became a contractor - sometimes doing up to three jobs at a time to support his son's career - and still found enough time to attend all his races. Anthony would later set up his own computer company, as well as working as a manager for Lewis on a full time basis.
In 2001 Michael Schumacher made a one-off return to karts and competed against Hamilton along with other future F1 drivers Vitantonio Liuzzi and Nico Rosberg. Hamilton ended the final seventh, four places behind Schumacher, and although the two saw little of each other on the track Schumacher praised the young Briton (see quote box). "He's a quality driver, very strong and only 16. If he keeps this up I'm sure he will reach F1. It's something special to see a kid of his age out on the circuit. He's clearly got the right racing mentality."Michael Schumacher, speaking about Hamilton in 2001.
After the season, British magazine Autosport featured him in their “Top 50 Drivers of 2005” issue, ranking Hamilton 24th. After his success in Formula Three, he moved to ASM's sister GP2 team ART Grand Prix for 2006. Just like their sister team 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, beating Nelson Piquet Junior.
His notable performances included a dominant win 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 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 in Istanbul, when he recovered from a spin that left him 18th to take second place in the final corners. He won the title in unusual circumstances, inheriting the final point he needed after Giorgio Pantano was stripped of fastest lap in the Monza feature race.
Although starting in 2nd place, in the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix he failed to finish in a championship-winning position, finishing the race in 7th overall after being in 18th place at his worst point of the race. This occurred due to two major incidents; first, he was passed by Räikkönen away from the line, before being boxed in by Massa and Räikkönen in the first corner and passed by Alonso at Turn 2. Hamilton attempted to re-pass Alonso in turn three, but ran wide, dropping four places to eighth.
On lap 9, Hamilton encountered a gearbox problem, which meant that he was stuck in neutral and could not select any gears. The gearbox became operational again after Hamilton switched settings on his steering wheel, but he lost 40 seconds while his car was coasting. For most of the race, Massa was leading the race with Räikkönen in second. If this was the case come the chequered flag and with Hamilton in 7th place, this would have meant that Hamilton would become world champion, but after their second round of pit stops, Räikkönen stayed out a couple of laps longer than Massa and took the lead. Once in front, Räikkönen made no mistakes in the remaining laps to win the race and become Formula One world champion.
Ahead of the world championship finale, Hamilton answered a question about what it would mean to him as a black driver to become champion, saying: "It will show that not only white people can do it, but also black people, Indians, Japanese and Chinese. It will be good to mean something."
Following the stewards' investigation into the incident at the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix, Alonso insinuated that the verdict had settled the championship in Hamilton's favour, saying: "I’m not thinking of this championship anymore, it’s been decided off the track. The drivers’ briefing has no purpose. You go there to hear what Charlie Whiting and the other officials say. Twenty one drivers have an opinion, Charlie and the officials another, and so it’s like talking to a wall."
Hamilton has matched or set the following records in Formula One:
- Most consecutive podiums from debut race: 9 (previous record was 2)
- Most consecutive podiums for a British driver: 9 (tied with Jim Clark)
- Youngest driver to lead the World Championship.
- Most wins in a debut season: 4 (equalling Jacques Villeneuve's record from 1996)
- Most pole positions in a debut season: 6
During the 2007 European Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, Hamilton became the first driver to have his car recovered by a crane and put back on the track during an F1 race, although several drivers have been pushed back onto the circuit by the marshals without mechanical aids when judged to be in a dangerous position, such as Michael Schumacher during the 2003 European Grand Prix. |
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