Lewis Hamilton came into Formula One with a lot to live up to after his record in the junior ranks but, whatever happens in what is likely to be a long future, like it or not his name will go down in history as the first black grand prix driver.
To say that that is the only significant thing about Hamilton, however, would be grossly unfair, as his record prior to F1 speaks for itself. Indeed, his success in the lower ranks led many to tip him as a future world champion, something given more weight by the fact that he has been a protege of Ron Dennis' since approaching the McLaren team boss as an eleven-year old.
Hamilton began racing when he was just eight, but quickly established himself at the head of the pack, becoming the British Cadet Kart champion in 1995 and adding a number of other successes to his tally before moving into cars.
He 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. That success paled, however, when he went on to win the world title later in the year, before ending the decade 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 FRenault 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 by 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.
A full-time F3 campaign was announced for 2004, but Hamilton snubbed the British championship, preferring instead to try the F3 Euroseries. 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 Premat.
Following the same strategy adopted in FRenault, 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 emphasising his dominance.
His 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 Nurburgring 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.
That success put Hamilton's name on everyone's lips, and there was speculation that he might make the step up to F1 towards the end of the year, possibly doing the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix in place of Pedro de la Rosa. In the end, however, mentor and McLaren-Mercedes team boss Dennis opted for caution and stuck with the Kimi Raikkonen-de la Rosa pairing formed when Juan Montoya was given the boot post-US GP.
Hamilton was given seat time in testing, however, and was officially confirmed as part of the 2007 McLaren line-up at the end of November. The announcement ended months of speculation, and allowed Hamilton to finally get on with the business of preparing, having apparently been told of his place after Monza's GP2 finale in September!
Early whispers suggested that, while he would get a lot of testing time prior to the start of the season, it might have been better for Hamilton to spend the whole year learning the ropes away from the media spotlight. However, the rookie was quick to silence those who doubted him....
Having topped the times regularly in pre-season testing, he qualified third on debut in Australia - before passing world champion team-mate Fernando Alonso around the outside of turn one to run second for much of the race. Despite being re-passed by Alonso, Hamilton claimed a maiden podium, beginning a run of top three results that stretched into the mid-season, and included his first two wins, on the annual transatlantic jaunt to Montreal and Indianapolis. His first pole also came in Canada as Hamilton established himself, not only as a consistent points leader, but also the title favourite.
Ninth in the rain-affected European GP - where he crashed heavily in qualifying and then had to be rescued from the gravel trap after an off early in the race - appeared to be the low point of Hamilton's sensational season as he bounced back with a controversial victory in Hungary, second at Monza and another win - perhaps the most impressive of all - at the soaking Japanese GP. However, with the title in his grasp, Hamilton's determination to win from the front cost him dearly, as self-induced tyre wear saw him slide into the gravel while making his pit-stop. This time there was no rescue and the Briton posted his only DNF of the year.
He could still clinch the crown - and become the first rookie to do so - with fifth place in Brazil, but an early gearbox problem left Lewis with too much to do, eventually coming home seventh as Kimi Raikkonen swept to the title. A post-race fuel protest promised to move him up the two positions he needed, but Hamilton magnanimously insisted that he did not want to win the title that way. In the end, the protest was thrown out and he had to settle for second on countback after tying on points with team-mate Alonso.
The year, however, had been riddled with acrimony, not least between the two drivers - despite claims to the contrary - and the espionage row that saw McLaren slung out of the constructors' championship. Alonso, who never settled, duly left what he felt was 'Hamilton's team', leaving the Briton as undisputed number one in only his second season.
