George Russell replaces Hamilton
L ewis Hamilton, like most Formula 1 drivers, took his first steps in the juniors when he was 8 years old -Kart classes. As a ten-year-old, he is said to have stood in front of team boss Ron Dennis at the gala of the British Motorsport Federation to ask for an autograph. Even then, Hamilton knew what he wanted when he said to the McLaren boss: “One day I want to drive for your Formula 1 team.” Dennis promised him that they would look further into the case of the kart championship. 3 years later, Hamilton was accepted into the junior program.
After 8 years in karting and small formula series, the son of an immigrant from Trinidad & Tobago switched to British Formula Renault in 2001, in which he was already in his second season Champion became.
Lewis Hamilton wins Formula 3 and GP2 in two years
After that it went steeply uphill. In 2005, Hamilton also finished two years of the Formula 3 Euro Series against well-known names such as Nico Rosberg, Robert Kubica, Sebastian Vettel and Adrian Sutil. In 2006, the young driver sponsored by Mercedes switched to GP2, which he won straight away. He had e.g. Nelson Piquet Jr. and Timo Glock behind them.
The time was ripe for Lewis Hamilton to get into Formula 1. After Kimi Raikkonen switched to Ferrari and Juan Pablo Montoya left, Ron Dennis was looking for two new drivers. After the reigning world champion Fernando Alonso was signed, the team boss Hamilton sat in the second cockpit as a young counterpart.
Lewis Hamilton as Schumacher replacement
In his first Formula 1 season, he beat colored Brit one like a bomb. After saying goodbye to Michael Schumacher, “Lew” became the new superstar. Young, handsome, charming and always friendly. Only his own teammate couldn't get excited about the Hamilton hype. Alonso made several accusations that Hamilton was being favored by the team. The dispute escalated during the race in Hungary when the Spaniard obstructed his teammates in qualifying.
Lewis Hamilton's first year was fantastic. In his first 9 races in a row, the new Silver Arrow star was able to take the podium. Record! At the sixth Grand Prix in Canada he was at the top of the podium for the first time. Two races before the end of the season, the youngster was already 17 points ahead of Ferrari competitor Kimi Räikkönen. But after the failure in China and seventh place in the final in Sao Paulo, Hamilton had to defeat himself one point behindgive.
Lewis Hamilton uncompromising and fast
Due to his relaxed manner outside the race track and the unfortunate end of the 2007 season, Hamilton, who now lives in Switzerland, won the hearts of many fans. The Briton is less valued by his fellow drivers because of his uncompromising driving style, his incredible ambition to honor and his self-confidence.
However, there are no two opinions about his incredible speed, with which he puts opponents and teammates alike under pressure. In his second season, his talent and aggressive driving style helped him to win 5 times this season and finally to his first world title.
At the age of only 23, the Silver Arrows driver became the youngest champion ever. In a memorable final, the Silver Arrows driver only pushed past Timo Glock in the penultimate corner in Sao Paulo to take the fifth place necessary to win the title.
Career break in 2009
In 2009, Hamilton could not repeat this feat and had to be content with fifth place in the drivers' championship. The champion also made negative headlines with the lies affair at the Australian GP. After a mixed start to the season, a small ray of hope came with the victory at the Hungarian GP. Lewis Hamilton became the first ever driver to win a Grand Prix with a KERS hybrid car. From then on things were looking up and the second victory followed only a little later in Singapore.
In the 2010 season it did not work out again with the targeted second world title, although Lewis Hamilton fought for the championship until the season finale. Above all, the two collision-related failures in Monza and Singapore broke the McLaren star's neck in the end. After finishing third in the World Cup, the Englishman was able to win the duel with his new team-mate Jenson Button. Sebastian Vettel snatched the record of the youngest champion of all time from him.
Hamilton next to the track
2011 saw the second big break in his career. Hamilton made headlines off the racetrack. He quarreled with the FIA commissioners and was repeatedly distracted by problems in the relationship with singer Nicole Scherzinger. The relationship with the driver colleagues did not improve either. A private feud with Felipe Massa with multiple collisions cost many points. In the duel against team-mate Button, Hamilton had just as no chance as against world champion Vettel. In the end it was only enough to rank 5th in the World Cup.
2012 shouldn't be much better either. Although Hamilton was able to minimize its own error rate, the world championship title was nothing. Although he had 4 wins, he had to say goodbye to the World Championship race early. Six zero numbers were just too many. Above all, the failures in Singapore, Abu Dhabi and Brazil hurt -Hamilton was always in the lead.
Hamilton changes to Mercedes in 2013
The unreliable car, mistakes by the team and unfortunate collisions hit the spirits. The relationship with his long-term racing team deteriorated. The negative climax was the Spa Twitter affair when Hamilton released confidential telemetry data from qualifying. The tablecloth was torn. Nevertheless, many were surprised when the Englishman announced the move to the Mercedes factory team after the Singapore GP.
Hamilton did not have high hopes for his first season in the Silver Arrow. In the end, however, the Briton was on pole position five times and was able to celebrate his first victory with the new car in Hungary. He finished fourth in the drivers' championship - well ahead of his former McLaren team. The previously often criticized move turned out to be the right decision in retrospect.
Double title for Hamilton in 2014 and 2015
In 2014, the first major attack on the title should finally be launched. The new engine regulations became the big trump card for Merceces. With a superior engine and a good chassis, the Silver Arrows drove the competition around the ears regularly. It quickly became clear that there would be only one opponent for Hamilton in the title fight - teammate Nico Rosberg. In an exciting final, the Briton finally prevailed. With a win in the final in Abu Dhabi, Hamilton made his second World Cup crown clear.
The third title followed less than 12 months later. In 2015, Hamilton set the course for defending his title early on. Especially in the first part of the season, team-mate Rosberg could not keep up. With the Silver Arrow, which was once again superior, Hamilton was crowned world champion in the fourth last race of the season in Austin. He was the first Briton who was able to successfully defend a Formula 1 title.
Loss to team-mate Rosberg
In 2016, Lewis Hamilton fought for the world championship to the bitter end. Although, in contrast to Rosberg, he was on the podium place “1” ten times, Nico Rosberg was able to win the title with his nine victories because he was a little more consistent in his performance and had a little less technical bad luck. Hamilton went into the last race of the season in second place in the world championship behind his teammate. The 'Abu Dhabi Grand Prix' was won by Hamilton, but a second place was enough for Rosberg to win the title. With a lead of only 5 points, Hamilton finally finished second behind Rosberg.
Rosberg announced his retirement after winning the title. Hamilton's successor Valtteri Botta could not quite demand. So the competitor for the title in 2017 and 2018 was mainly Sebastian Vettel. At the beginning of the season, the Ferrari driver was still one step ahead. But thanks to the bad luck of Scuderia and strong performances from Mercedes, Hamilton was able to prevail in the endand win the world title four and five.
