Journey that made Hamilton a winner on and off the track

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13 April 2012

When a 10-year-old Lewis Hamilton first met Ron Dennis he famously told him that he was going to be a Formula One driver.

The McLaren chief never doubted the young Briton and today the pair are celebrating his maiden world championship.

It is a fairytale story of epic proportions with many chapters left to come. From a modest family in Hertfordshire, with a white mother and a black father, Hamilton began racing go-karts when he was eight years old.

He won the McLaren Mercedes Champions of the Future series and then met Dennis, the owner and director of McLaren. Three years later, Dennis signed Hamilton on to his young driver program and the Briton immediately started to excel.
He won several karting series, including the European Formula A championship in 2000. After a year of learning in Formula Renault, he then won the 2003 British Formula Renault championship with 10 victories and 11 pole positions.

In 2005, he won the F3 Euroseries with 15 victories and 13 pole positions and a year later he was crowned GP2 champion in his rookie year.
And it was during his GP2 season, that Hamilton developed his instinctive driving style as he proved to be not only lightning fast, but also a daredevil.

His passing move driving around the outside of two rivals during the second race at Silverstone was a breathtaking manoeuvre that no one who saw will forget as he started eighth and won the race.

This style was to continue in his first year in Formula One as he finished third in his opening race and then proceeded to smash the 40-year-old rookie record of two consecutive podiums at the start of a season.

Hamilton won four times in 2007 and he finished the championship in second place, one point behind Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.

His first year was the best by any rookie in the sport, and it was not until errors in his last two races that cost him the title that he finally looked human after all.

What he did learn from that experience was how to stand up for himself. Being team-mates with double world champion, Fernando Alonso, was never going to be easy and opinion was divided as to whether his character would stand up to the job of racing with the Spaniard.

A series of high-profile fall-outs threatened team spirit but, in the end, the pair finished level on points.

After the disappointment in Sao Paulo Hamilton sought the solace of his father Anthony — the guiding light through his career.

It was fitting then that the pair were together again at the same circuit yesterday only this time they were shedding tears of joy.

Journey that made Hamilton a winner on and off the track

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