Sir Lewis Hamilton
One of the Most Successful Racing Drivers of All Time
Sir Lewis Hamilton is a British race-car driver who has won the most Formula One (F1) races and holds more pole positions and podium finishes than any other F1 driver in the history of the sport. He is noted for winning seven world titles, a record that currently ties him with F1 legend Michael Schumacher. Lewis made history in 2008 when he became the first black F1 driver to win the World Drivers’ Championship.
Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton was born on January 7, 1985, in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England. His father, a black man named Anthony Hamilton, hails from the island of Grenada, while his mother, Carmen Larbalestier, is white. Yet Lewis identifies as black, as stated in his 2014 interview with the BBC:
“When I first started in Formula 1, I tried to ignore the fact I was the first black guy ever to race in the sport. But, as I've got older, I've really started to appreciate the implications. It's a pretty cool feeling to be the person to knock down a barrier.”
When Lewis was five, his father Anthony bought him a remote-controlled (RC) car, which sparked his fascination with autos. A year later, Lewis was runner-up in a British RC racing championship. Lewis officially started his racing career at the tender age of eight mainly with the help of his father, who worked several odd jobs to support his karting endeavors. Two years later, he won the British cadet karting championship, a racing event several famous drivers entered and won before launching their adult race car driving careers.
Lewis went on to win other karting competitions over the next two years as well, and by age 15, he was the youngest driver to be ranked number one in competitive karting. But the year he first won the British karting championship, he went to the Autosport Awards and approached Ron Dennis, the boss of the McLaren Formula One team. After asking for an autograph he told Ron Dennis of his British karting win and said he wanted to race his cars one day. In 1998, after Lewis had won two more important championships, Ron Dennis called to offer him a spot in the McLaren and Mercedes-Benz Young Driver Support program. Lewis signed on, and there he received the resources and training needed to improve his driving skills.
He accomplished another first with the contract signing because being 13 years of age made him the youngest driver ever contracted by an F1 team. The contract also included a future option, exclusive to team members, that allowed entry into Formula One. Lewis raced at the Junior Intercontinental A level for a time, then graduated to Formula Renault, an entry-level motor racing series popular in Europe and other areas. After a slow start in Formula Renault, Lewis raced to the top with a series of impressive wins that included fastest laps and a bounty of points. A stint in Formula 3 (F3) followed, F3 being a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. Then came the GP2 Series, another form of open-wheel racing that is the natural progression to Formula 1. Indeed, Lewis Hamilton’s rookie performance in F1, which took place in 2007, is considered among the greatest in the sport. He eventually rose to the top of the all-time pole positions list and matched Michael Schumacher by winning seven world titles.
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This article appears in 21st Century Black Changemakers.
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