| Net Worth: | $300 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional racing driver |
| Date of Birth: | January 7, 1985 |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Height: | 1.74 m |
About Lewis Hamilton
Hamilton is often considered to be one of the best drivers overall due to his many strengths. Some have noted his aggressive driving style and said he has a knack for knowing when a vehicle has reached its limitations. When he first started racing cars, he competed in the 2001 British Formula Renault Winter Series and ended up fifth in the final standings. Because of this, Manor Motorsport offered him a place in their 2002 Formula Renault UK team, where he finished third overall.
Even though Alex Lloyd won the championship the following year, he stayed with Manor for another. Since Hamilton had already secured the title, he decided to wait until the season finale of the British Formula 3 Championship to make his racing debut. After suffering a flat tire and being forced to withdraw from the first race, he collided with teammate Tor Graves and crashed out of the second race, prompting medical attention.
Hamilton was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, on January 7, 1985. His father, Anthony Hamilton, is black and of Grenadian heritage, and his mother, Carmen Larbalestier, is White British and from Birmingham, making him biracial; Hamilton has identified as black.
When Hamilton was two years old, his parents divorced, and he spent the next ten years with his mother and half-sisters Samantha and Nicola. Afterwards, Hamilton moved in with his dad, stepmom Linda, and half-brother Nicolas, who is also a race car driver. Hamilton was brought up in the Catholic faith.
In 1993, Hamilton started racing karts, and he soon rose to the top of his cadet class, claiming multiple championships. It wasn’t until he was ten years old that he won the British cadet karting championship, making him the youngest driver in the event’s history. The odds of Hamilton winning a Formula One race before the age of 23 were 40/1 when he was 12 years old, while the odds of Hamilton winning the World Drivers’ Championship before the age of 25 were 150/1.
Hamilton advanced through the ranks of the Intercontinental A (1999), Formula A (2000), and Formula Super A (2001) series, and he won the title of European Champion with a perfect score in 2000. Hamilton’s first race was in the 2001 British Formula Renault Winter Series, where he finished fifth.
In 2001, future Formula One drivers Hamilton, Vitantonio Liuzzi, and Nico Rosberg competed against Michael Schumacher, who made a one-time return to kart racing. After the race, Hamilton had fallen to sixth, four spots behind Schumacher. Although the two drivers rarely overlapped on the track, Schumacher had nothing but love for the up-and-coming British rookie.
In 2004, he debuted with Manor in Formula 3 Euro Series, where he finished in fifth place. Other races he participated in and won include the Macau F3 Grand Prix (twice) and the Bahrain F3 Superprix (twice). Williams nearly signed Hamilton, but ultimately decided not to after learning that BMW would not finance him as an engine provider.
Back in late 2004, Hamilton took part in his first McLaren test at Silverstone. For the 2005 season, Hamilton joined the reigning Euro Series champions ASM and promptly won 15 of the series’ 20 races.
In 2006, Hamilton joined the ART Grand Prix team, which competes in GP2. ASM was his previous squad. On his first try, Hamilton beat off Nelson Piquet Jr. and Timo Glock to claim the GP2 title.
He was penalized for speeding in the pit lane, but still managed to pull off a commanding victory at the Nürburgring. While finishing second to Kimi Räikkönen in the 2007 World Drivers’ Championship by a single point, Hamilton set several records on his way to the podium, including the most consecutive podium finishes from a debut (nine), the joint most wins in a debut season (four), and the most points in a debut season (100).
In the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix, the final race of the season, Hamilton overtook Timo Glock for fifth position in the closing corners of the last lap to deny race winner Massa the championship by one point and become the youngest Formula One World Champion in history.
Hamilton started the final round of the 2010 season with a chance of winning the title, but ultimately finished fourth as Sebastian Vettel won the race to capture his inaugural drivers’ crown. The following year was the first season he had been out-scored by a teammate, as Jenson Button finished runner-up to champion Sebastian Vettel, during a year in which distractions in his private life and run-ins with FIA officials saw Hamilton finish a lowly fifth in the standings, after which he vowed he would return to form for 2012.
At Mercedes, Hamilton was reunited with Nico Rosberg, a childhood karting teammate. Hamilton took first place in only one race this season, the Hungarian Grand Prix. The introduction of turbo-hybrid engines, required by new rules for the 2014 season, marked the beginning of Hamilton’s most successful period in the sport. Mercedes-Benz drivers swept 16 of the season’s 19 race victories.
The incumbent World Champion, Lewis Hamilton, declared before the 2015 season that he would not be changing his car number to 1 and would instead keep racing with his familiar No. 44. In 2015, Hamilton won ten races and finished on the podium seventeen times, equaling his hero Ayrton Senna’s record of three World Championships. Hamilton signed a three-year extension with Mercedes that year, reputedly for over £100 million and making him one of F1’s highest-paid drivers.
Hamilton finished second behind Rosberg in the drivers’ standings in 2016, but despite having a better season overall (more pole positions and race victories than anybody else), he still lost the title by five points. After Rosberg retired, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel became Hamilton’s main competition, and the two drivers traded off the lead in the championship throughout the year.
The 2018 season was branded as the “Fight for Five” by the media and fans because it was the first time that two four-time World Champions, Hamilton and Vettel, would be vying for a fifth title.
Hamilton signed a two-year contract with Mercedes during the season, reportedly worth up to £40 million year, making him the highest-paid Formula One driver in history. Hamilton concluded the 2019 season with 11 victories and his sixth career grand slam after winning the final race of the year. With Mercedes, he signed a contract good through the year 2020. In 2020, Hamilton won his seventh drivers’ championship, matching Schumacher’s all-time record.
Hamilton and Max Verstappen of Red Bull were early title favorites in 2021. After losing his 2021 teammate Bottas, Hamilton found a new companion in 2022 in George Russell.
