Lewis Hamilton
Given his runaway successes in the sport’s lower ranks, there was an inevitability that Lewis Hamilton would one day strap himself into a McLaren-Mercedes to take part in his first Grand Prix, Once under the watchful eye of the meticulous Ron Dennis, Hamilton’s racing apprenticeship was carefully nurtured both on and off the track, producing a young man seemingly bound for motor racing greatness
Despite limited funds at the outset, but with massive parental encourage from his father Anthony, the youngster began racing when he was just eight. He quickly established himself at the head of the pack, becoming the British Cadet Kart champion in 1995 before adding a number of other successes to his tally. Lewis was a McLaren-Mercedes Champion of the Future in 1996, as well as securing the Sky TV Kart Masters title and the Five Nations honours. In 1997, he moved up from the Cadet level to the Junior Yamaha class and, once again, immediately took the laurels, repeating his British title success from Cadets and taking the McLaren-Mercedes Champion of the Future crown in the class.
He took the Champion of the Future tag again in 1998, and continued to progress through the karting ranks, taking runners-up honours in the 1999 European JICA championship to go with his Italian 'Industrials' title and fourth place in the Italian national JICA series.
Paired in a 'dream team' with future F1 rival Nico Rosberg, Hamilton went one better the following year, his first full season in senior competition, whitewashing his rivals to take the four-round 2000 European FA title. More success followed in short order when he went on to win the world title later in the year, before ending the year with victory in the Masters event at Bercy. The successful campaign also led to Hamilton being made a founder member of BRDC 'Rising Star' scheme.
Having become the very best in karts, Hamilton began the move to cars, taking fifth overall in the 2001 Formula Renault Winter series. The decision to skip Formula Ford and head straight for the 'slicks-and-wings' category was justified when he then took third overall in the 2002 Formula Renault UK championship, collecting three wins, three pole positions and three fastest laps en route. He also took in four of the nine Eurocup rounds, again with Manor Motorsport, claiming fifth overall on the back of some scintillating runs.
Although the temptation to move up to F3 was great, Hamilton opted to remain in Formula Renault in 2003, and it proved to be a wise move, with ten wins, eleven poles and nine fastest laps seeing him cruise to the UK title. Having secured the crown with two rounds to run, Hamilton finally made the move to F3, but a tentative debut at Brands Hatch was curtailed after an accident that left him in hospital with concussion. He bounced straight back, however, taking pole for the end-of-season Korean Superprix, before another incident ended his hopes of victory.
Hamilton was shrewdly placed in the German based F3 Euroseries for the 2004 season where he could not only develop his career in a new environment, but also race with Mercedes power in his Dallara.. He had a solid debut year, taking one win and two thirds to end the season fifth in the standings, before dominating the inaugural Bahrain Super Prix and taking victory in race one at Macau, an event eventually won by future GP2 team-mate Alex Prémat.
Following the same strategy adopted in Formula Renault, Hamilton did the same again in 2005, but left Manor to join the crack ASM team in the Euroseries. Backed by the existing series champions, the Briton blitzed his opposition, taking win after win to easily take the title, with 15 victories, 13 poles and 15 fastest laps underlining his dominance.
His unstoppable rise was also illustrated in the ‘blue riband’ F3 events, as he seized the initiative to win the Marlboro Masters at Zandvoort, the Monaco Grand Prix support races and the Pau Grand Prix.
With all that achieved, Hamilton had only one more category to conquer before Formula One and, while the GP2 Series would be a tough nut to crack, he took to it with aplomb. Among the fastest in almost every winter test he attended, he was signed to replace Rosberg alongside Premat in ASM's sister team ART Grand Prix, and was listed amid the pre-season favourites, despite his rookie status.
Although a quiet opening round in Valencia yielded a maiden podium, Hamilton made short work of playing himself into the series, taking a rare win double in round three at the Nürburgring and going on to add three more victories – at Monaco and twice at Silverstone following a breathtaking three-abreast passing move at Becketts – before the year reached halfway. Although he failed to take another win, and faced stiff opposition from a resurgent Nelson Piquet Jr, consistent podium finishes – some inspired by scintillating recovery drives through the field, such as that in Istanbul – Hamilton ended 2006 with five wins and 114 points, twelve more than the Brazilian.
Indeed the conundrum for McLaren-Mercedes was now what to do with their embryonic Grand Prix star. To keep him in his testing role for further year, or perhaps place him with another Formula 1 team to gain experience, or give him the race seat alongside the newly arrived Fernando Alonso. Eventually, Ron Dennis decided that Hamilton’s time had come, and a massively assured performance on his debut in Melbourne saw Lewis take a stunning third place. Any doubters that he would be risk at this level were soon to be silenced as Lewis tore into the season with four second place finishes in row before heading over to North America taking glorious victories at Montreal and Indianapolis.
Back in Europe the winning run was halted, but two third places at Magny Cours and Silverstone saw Hamilton record an astonishing nine podium finishes in a row to comfortably top the Driver’s chanpionship. The points scoring streak was finally broken in the European Grand Prix, where the driver was perhaps guilty of over reaching himself in the atrocious weather conditions, but he bounced back right back to record another win in Hungary. This race saw the controversial practice spat that was to unhinge the McLaren team and eventually bring about the departure of Fernando Alonso, but Hamilton seemed unfazed by the controversy. Indeed he was more preoccupied with his off-track activities as the English press spent time digging up stories on his private life.
The Turkish Grand Prix was perhaps to prove a pivotal race in Hamilton’s quest for a Championship in his rookie season. From looking a certain podium finisher, Lewis was left to salvage fifth place after suffering an unexplained tyre failure late in the race. Those lost points were going to make all the difference later in the year…
Perhaps forced onto the back foot Hamilton seemed uncomfortable in the next two races in Italy and Belgium as his rivals closed the gap, but the title again seemed to be for the taking following his fourth win of the season win in the rain-hit Japanese Grand Prix. The twists and turns of a dramatic season were to bring yet more drama in the next race, the Chinese Grand Prix. Once again the weather conditions were to play an important part, but the McLaren team’s inexplicable decision to leave Lewis out on the track with badly worn tyres was to prove disastrous. The youngster failed to negotiate the pit lane entry and beached his car in the gravel. Trying desperately to win the race, in which just a solid haul of points was sufficient, was enough open the door to his rivals in the title battle.
Having lead the Championship from the third round in Bahrain, Hamilton arrived for the final race in Brazil with a four point lead over team mate Alonso and a healthy seven point advantage over Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen. Everything seemed to be going to plan for Lewis as he qualified his McLaren on the front row of the grid alongside the Ferrari of Felipe Massa, but out-fumbled into the first corner Hamilton’s race began to disintegrate. Running wide in a frantic attempt to retake his team mate Alonso saw him slip down into eight place and further woes were follow as his car suddenly lost its gears on lap 8 and for a few crucial seconds the field swept by the hapless Hamilton. Finally the car was coaxed back into life, but the damage was done.
Despite valiant efforts Lewis could not bring his McLaren into the fifth place he needed to secure the Championship, but he hid his disappointment well after a season in which he seemed destined to triumph.
In 2008 Hamilton has every chance to achieve the title at the second attempt, and certainly a win in the opener at Melbourne bodes well. But given the trials and tribulations of an 18-race season, he no doubt, will play the percentages more carefully this time round…
