A detailed profile of McLaren F1 driver Lewis Hamilton – Formula 1
Lewis Hamilton is presently the lead driver of the McLaren F1 team who hails from Britain.
In his five-year career with the McLaren team, he has secured 48 podium finishes, scored 888 race points and has competed in 108 Grands Prix. His F1 career includes one championship win that he scored in 2008 and became the youngest champion in history at
that time. His record was later broken by Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel.
Hamilton initially started his racing career through Karting when he was only eight years old. By the age of ten years, he had already won his first British Karting championship. At the same age he had approached the team boss for McLaren of that time, Ron
Dennis, and expressed his wish to him that he wanted to drive their cars one day. Dennis had told him to contact him in nine years so they will be able to work out something.
He continued to race in the Formula Renault and Formula three Racing series. Further, he joined to race in the GP2 series and won his GP2 championship after his very first attempt.
Hamilton got his wish to work with McLaren when he made his debut in the Formula 1 racing with the team in 2007. At that time his teammate was Fernando Alonso whom he overcame with his brilliant performance. He earned podium finishes in his first nine races
of the season including six poles. He went on to win the drivers’ title next year and won it only by single point over Ferrari’s Felipe Massa. After that he confirmed a deal with McLaren until the end of 2012.
The driver is known for his aggressive way of driving and showing sheer confidence while overtaking other drivers on the track. He performed 32 overtakes over a span of 4 races in the 2010 F1 season. He is also very good in driving under wet conditions
as shown by his brilliant performance at the British Grand Prix in his championship season. He is often criticised for his defensive weaving in a race against which the driver has been quick to defend himself but was warned that he will be penalised for such
events in the future.
During his time with the McLaren team while Alonso was still his teammate, the duo remained under speculation regarding both of them not getting along. The whole issue finally led to Alonso and the team mutually coming to the decision that Alonso will be
leaving the team.
In 2009, his start to the season did not go well but around the tenth race he changed that when the car development improved and he completed the season strongly reviving his earlier performance that year. The next year, the driver was set to win his second
drivers’ title but he lost the lead during the Italian Grand Prix as his car failed to match the pace set by Red Bull and Ferrari.
The 2011 season turned out to be a poor one as Hamilton got beaten by his teammate Jenson Button for the first time. He constantly had to deal with penalties and tensions involving Massa. The current season has turned out to be even worse for the driver.
His races have been marred with several retirements and frustratingly not because of his own fault but rather the team have been facing reliability issues.
Hamilton‘s contract with McLaren ends at the end of this season and he will be replacing the historic Michael Schumacher in Mercedes for next year’s season.
Tags: