Lewis Hamilton, 2008 World Drivers' Champion continues to race with McLaren in 2011, driving alongside the 2009 Champion Jenson Button.  Hamilton is a very talented driver, the second youngest F1 champion (Sebastian Vettel is the youngest) and is known for his combative and aggressive driving style. Lewis has greatly benefitted throughout his racing career from the support of the McLaren team, he has not had to 'do his time' with smaller teams, consequently comparisons with other drivers can be somewhat distorted. Nevertheless, winning the title in only his second season and coming very close in his first was a phenomenal achievement; McLaren tend to produce very competitive cars but Hamilton had to get it around the track and he does so with rare ability. 

Hamilton has been involved in had a number controversies; his troubled relationship with 2007 team mate Fernando Alonso was in the main blamed on the Spaniard, however his decision to mislead the race officials at the 2009 Australian GP caused great harm to his reputation. However, in 2010, he replaced his father, who had managed him up to that point, and his new advisors and his greater experience certainly exhibited a more measured approach in 2010.

The teaming with Jenson Button in 2010 did not result in public squabbles, indeed the two seemed to get along well, and did not accuse each other of having unfair advantages. The fourth place championship finish in 2010 was a little disappointing, but the 2010 car was outpaced by the Red Bulls throughout the entire season. 

Lewis Hamilton was a prodigious Karting talent winning numerous races and series at a very early age. Fortunate to have a very supportive father who was prepared to make financial sacrifices to support his son certainly help the young driver develop, but Hamilton had raw talent. The remarkable prodigy was spotted by McLaren who contracted Hamilton at just 13 years old to the McLaren and Mercedes-Benz Young Driver Support Programme.

In late 2001, Hamilton competed in the British Formula Renault Winter Series, finishing fifth. In 2002 and 2003 he drove for Manor Motorsport finishing third in 02 and winning the championship in 03.
 
In 2004 and 2005 he competed in the Formula Three Euro series, finishing 3rd in 2004 for the Manor team, and winning in 2005 for the ASM team. Hamilton moved to GP2 in 2006, driving for the reigning champions ART Grand Prix; he won the drivers' GP2 title and displayed some very strong overtaking skills.

McLaren, who had for some years financially supported Hamilton, decided he was ready to drive in F1 for the 2007 season. A rookie F1 driver in such a prestigious team is unusual, but McLaren had also contracted with the double world champion Fernando Alonso, and may well have felt Alonso would take care of winning for the team giving the young Lewis Hamilton time to acclimatize to F1.

Hamilton took no time to adjust to F1, placing third in his first race in Australia and then finishing second in the next two races; Bahrain and Spain. Hamilton was leading the championship. The relationship with Alonso was already poor and arguments and disagreements were becoming public. When Hamilton finished second behind Alonso at Monaco, he accused his team,

McLaren (the same guys that had supported him financially throughout his early career) of preventing him from racing his team mate. The FIA investigated, as such is not permissible, and cleared McLaren.

Hamilton won the next two races; Canada and USA, and so became only the second driver to win more than one race in a rookie season. (Jacques Villeneuve is the other). A third place at Magny-Cours further extended his lead to 14 points in the title standings, but such was reduced at the British GP when finishing third behind two other title contenders, team mate Alonso and Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen. A ninth place at the European GP was his first non-podium finish in the season and further reduced his lead in the title race.

Alonso was judged to have prevented Hamilton from leaving the pits in time to complete qualifying at the Hungarian GP, he (Alonso) was relegated five places and Hamilton went on to win the race.

A fifth place in Turkey and finishes behind Alonso in Italy and Belgium reduced the point gap to 2, but a win in Japan after Alonso had crashed increased the lead to 12 points.

A Hamilton retirement at the China GP meant that the title race would be decided at the last race of the season in Brazil. Hamilton was four points ahead of Alonso and seven ahead of Räikkönen. The race did not go according to plan; a combination of fabulous racing by Massa and Räikkönen, Hamilton running wide after been passed by Alonso, and gearbox issues, resulted in the young Brit crossing the finish line in seventh. Räikkönen won the race and thus the championship. The winning margin was just one point, with Alonso and Hamilton having the same number of points. (Hamilton was second in the table because he had won more races than Alonso). The relationship between Hamilton and Alonso was terrible, and Alonso left McLaren at the end of the season.

The 2008 season started brilliantly with a win in Australia. But in the next two races a fifth in Malaysia and a 13th in Bahrain, left him in third place in the championship after three races. He was back on the podium at the Spanish GP finishing third and then a second in Turkey. Victory at the Monaco GP put Hamilton in the lead of the championship.

A pole position start in Canada was not capitalised upon, when Hamilton crashed into the back of Räikkönen as the Finnish driver was held by the red light at the end of the pit lane. Both cars had to retire, Hamilton claimed he did not see the red light; he was given a 10 position grid penalty for the next race. A 13th place finish in the French GP was a consequence of the penalty start and a slight driving error leading to a drive through penalty.

Hamilton's fabulous drive at the British GP in wet conditions was testament to his great skills and deserving of the win. The win at Hockenheim was a combination of great qualifying speed, putting him on pole, team strategy in keeping him out during a safety car deployment and then great overtaking.

Hamilton's win in Belgium was reduced by race officials to a third place finish because he was judge to have gained an unfair advantage by cutting a chicane and given a 25 second penalty, his main championship rival Massa inherited the win and reduced Hamilton's lead to two points. (The appeal to the FIA was rejected).

A seventh place finish, one position behind Massa, at the Italian GP reduced Hamilton's lead in the championship to just one point. Hamilton finished third at the next race the Singapore GP, and with Massa failing to score any points, Hamilton's lead increased to seven points.

The Japanese GP was full of incident; both Hamilton and Massa were given drive through penalties for different overtaking attempts, and despite starting in pole position Hamilton finished in 12th with Massa picking up two points by finishing seventh.  A win at the penultimate race of the season in China increased Hamilton's lead to seven points with just one race remaining.
The mathematics was simple, if Hamilton finished in fifth or better at the Brazilian GP he would become the youngest ever F1 champion. Hamilton's race did not go according to plan, but running fifth with a few laps remaining the title looked to be his. Rain changed the settled order, as Hamilton was overtaken by Vettel, and with Massa running in P1, it looked as though the title for Hamilton was lost. 

On the final lap of the race Vettel passed Glock (Toyota) shortly afterwards Massa crossed the line to win the race, just before the last bend of the track, Hamilton passed Glock who unlike Hamilton had risked staying on the track with dry-weather tyres, despite the rain. Hamilton moved back up to fifth. Hamilton thus won the 2008 drivers championship by one point over Ferrari's Massa. It was a tremendous achievement for such a young driver, and vindicated McLaren's decision to financially support Hamilton when he was driving in the lower echelons of motorsport. 

The first race of the 2008 campaign was disastrous for Hamilton; he drove well in the Australian GP and finished, after a lowly start position, in fourth place.  He was promoted to third after Jarno Trulli was penalised for overtaking Hamilton under safety-car conditions. Hamilton 'misled' the race officials; Jarno Trulli was not at fault, and Hamilton had coldly colluded with the McLaren director of racing to present evidence that was blatantly untrue. When the deception was discovered, by the uncovering of video and radio communications, Hamilton was disqualified for providing "misleading evidence" during the stewards' hearing. In the view of many he was fortunate that the penalty was not greater, however, his reputation was much damaged by the revelations. 

Disappointing results followed: Malaysian GP seventh, Chinese GP sixth, Bahrain GP forth, Spanish GP ninth, Monaco twelfth, Turkey thirtieth and 18th at the German GP. The normally fast McLaren was struggling, but the engineering team in the U.K. worked furiously on delivering updates for the car, and at the Hungarian GP it was back to Hamilton/McLaren of the previous season with a clear victory. Good form continued at the European GP with a pole start and a second place finish. (He would have likely won but for a rare poor McLaren pit stop). 

A four car crash at the Belgium GP (not Hamilton's fault) and a last lap crash whilst chasing a second place in the Italian GP mathematically ended Hamilton's chance of defending his title.

A fabulous win in Singapore and a third place in Japan illustrated once again the depth of Lewis Hamilton's driving skills, but in Brazilian GP he was sublime in the race, starting 17th on the grid he finished in third position. Understandably his drive was over-shadowed by Jenson Button taking the drivers' title, but if Hamilton had had a competitive car throughout the season, he may well have won the Championship. At the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi, Hamilton retired on lap 20 with brake problems. He was leading the race at the time.

The 2010 season was somewhat mixed for Hamilton and McLaren, the team struggled to compete with the speed of the Red Bulls, and Hamilton at times seemed to a little off his best pace.

After the first six races of the season, Hamilton was yet to win a race, but with two podiums was still in contention, after ten races, he had won two races and four additional podium finishes. Unfortunately, three further DNF's in Hungry, Germany and Singapore (in addition to Spain early in the season) rendered his title hopes late in the season to purely mathematical rather than likely. A season that included nine podium finishes, three of them on the top step, cannot be described as poor, but a fourth place finish in the championship was disappointing.

Prior to the start of the 2010 season, Fernando Alonso would have been considered by many to be Hamilton's only equal on the grid (and Michael Schumacher if on old form), however, the emergence of Sebastian Vettel, certainly adds further pressure. Hamilton has the skills, talent and temperament to be a multiple champion, but he must redouble his efforts to cut out 'unforced' errors and gain points even when the circumstances conspire against him. Hamilton has time on his side to become thought of as a great driver, spoken of in the same echelon as; Senna, Clark or Schumacher, but Alonso and now Vettel will be very keen to deny him a place and claim their own.


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