Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton
He is a British racing driver. He currently competes in Formula One for Mercedes, having previously driven for McLaren from 2007 to 2012.
1985
Stevenage, UK
British, English
His father, Anthony Hamilton, is Black and is of Grenadian descent, while his mother, Carmen Larbalestier, is White British, and from Birmingham. Hamilton has identified as Black.
Formula One World Drivers’ Championship: 2008, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
Formula One World Constructors’ Championship: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021
DHL Fastest Lap Award: 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020
FIA Pole Trophy/Pirelli Pole Position Award: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020
Hawthorn Memorial Trophy: 2007, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021
Lorenzo Bandini Trophy: 2009
Other awards
He won the Laureus Breakthrough of the Year Award in 2008
Sportsman of the Year Award in 2020.
Hamilton also won Pride of Britain Awards (2007)
Best Driver ESPY Award (2017; 2021)
BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award (2014; 2020)
L’Équipe Champion of Champions (2020),
Gazzetta World Sportsman of the Year (2018; 2020)
He was elected FIA Personality of the Year four times (2014; 2018; 2020; 2021)
He was inducted to FIA Hall of Fame in 2017
Orders and special awards
Member of the Order of the British Empire MBE
Knight Bachelor
Honorary Award, Grenada
Recognition
A portrait of Hamilton by photographer Dario Mitidieri is held in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London
The Hamilton Straight, Silverstone Circuit.
Hamilton’s father bought him a radio-controlled car when he was five. Hamilton finished second in the national BRCA championship the following year against adult competition. Being the only Black child racing at his club, Hamilton was subjected to racist abuse. Hamilton’s father bought him a go kart for Christmas when he was six and promised to support his racing career as long as he worked hard at school. To support his son, Hamilton’s father took redundancy from his position as an IT manager and became a contractor, sometimes working up to four jobs at a time including employment as a double glazing salesman, dishwasher, and putting up signs for estate agents, while still attending his son’s races. Hamilton’s father later set up his own IT company. He continued to be Hamilton’s manager until early 2010.
Hamilton was educated at The John Henry Newman School, a voluntary aided Catholic secondary school in Stevenage. At the age of five, Hamilton took up karate to defend himself as a result of bullying at school. He was also excluded from school for a period when he was mistakenly identified as having attacked a fellow student. In addition to racing, he played association football for his school team with eventual England international, Ashley Young. Hamilton, an Arsenal fan, said that if Formula One had not worked for him, he would have been a footballer or a cricketer, having played both for his school teams. In February 2001, he began studies at Cambridge Arts and Sciences (CATS), a private sixthform college in Cambridge.
Hamilton began his car racing career in the 2001 British Formula Renault Winter Series, finishing fifth in the standings. This led to a full 2002 Formula Renault UK campaign with Manor Motorsport in which he finished third overall. He remained with Manor for another year, winning the championship ahead of Alex Lloyd. Having clinched the championship, Hamilton missed the last two races of the season to make his debut in the season finale of the British Formula 3 Championship. In his first race he was forced out with a puncture, and in the second he crashed out and was taken to hospital after a collision with teammate Tor Graves.
Asked in 2002 about the prospect of becoming one of the youngest ever Formula One drivers, Hamilton replied that his goal was “not to be the youngest in Formula One” but rather “to be experienced and then show what I can do in Formula One”. He made his debut with Manor in the 2004 Formula 3 Euro Series, ending the year fifth in the championship. He also won the Bahrain F3 Superprix and twice raced in the Macau F3 Grand Prix. Williams had come close to signing Hamilton but did not because BMW, their engine supplier at the time, would not fund him. Hamilton eventually re-signed with McLaren. According to then McLaren executive and future CEO Martin Whitmarsh, who was responsible for guiding Hamilton through the team’s young driver programme, he and Anthony Hamilton had a “huge row” at the end of the season, with Lewis’ father pushing for him to move up to GP2 for 2005, while Whitmarsh felt that he should remain in F3 for a second season, culminating in Whitmarsh tearing up Lewis’ contract; however, Lewis called Whitmarsh six weeks later and re-signed with the team.
Hamilton first tested for McLaren in late 2004 at Silverstone. Hamilton moved to the reigning Euro Series champions ASM for the 2005 season and dominated the championship, winning 15 of the 20 rounds. He also won the Marlboro Masters of Formula 3 at Zandvoort. After the season British magazine Autosport featured him in their `Top 50 Drivers of 2005’ issue, ranking Hamilton twenty fourth.
Parents – Carmen Larbalestier and Anthony Hamilton
Siblings – Nicolas Hamilton, Nicola Lockhart, Samantha Lockhart
https://f1.fandom.com/wiki/Lewis_Hamilton accessed 13/04/2022
https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/12587091/australian-gp-lewis-hamilton-praises-george-russell-and-clarifies-radio-rant-as-mercedes-maximise accessed 13/04/2022
https://beyondtheflag.com/2022/03/23/formula-1-lewis-hamilton-broken-record-2022/ accessed 13/04/2022
https://twitter.com/lewishamilton/status/1459981881383038980 accessed 13/04/2022
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Hamilton accessed 13/04/2022
https://www.google.com/search?q=quotes+by+lewis+hamilton&rlz=1C1GCEA_en&oq=quotes+by+lewis+&aqs=chrome.0.0i512l2j69i57j0i512l5j0i22i30l2.7764j0j9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 accessed 13/04/2022
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