He clinched the title by a single point on only his second attempt ahead of Felipe Massa. He has stated that he wants to stay with the McLaren team for the rest of his F1 career and has a McLaren contract until the end of 2012.
The previous year Hamilton made a stunning debut season, scoring podiums in his first nine races. He also secured four wins and six poles and out-performed champion team mate Fernando Alonso. He was the big title favourite until errors in the final two rounds saw him drop him to second place behind Kimi Raikkonen.
Hamilton had designs on F1 even when he just 10 years old when he approached the McLaren team principal, Ron Dennis, at the 1995 Autosport Awards ceremony and told him "I want to race for you one day." Less than three years later, he was signed by McLaren and Mercedes-Benz to their Young Driver Support Programme. After winning the British Formula Renault, Formula Three Euroseries and GP2 championships on his way up the racing career ladder, he became a McLaren F1 driver for 2007. The rest is history.
FACT FILE
Date of Birth 07/01/1985
Place of Birth Stevenage
Nationality British
Team McLaren
Podiums 26
Points 250
Grand Prix entered 50
Pole positions 16
World Championships 1
First race 2007 Australian Grand Prix
First win 2007 Canadian Grand Prix
Last win 2009 Singapore Grand Prix
Last race 2009 Japanese Grand Prix
2008 position 1st (98 points)
IN THE MIX
n Hamilton is named after American sprinter Carl Lewis who won 10 Olympic medals including 9 gold.
- Coming from a mixed-race background, with a black father Anthony and white mother Carmen Larbalestier (now Carmen Lockhat) Hamilton is often labelled the first black driver in Formula One.
- Hamilton's first taste of racing competition came at the controls of radio-controlled cars after his father bought him one in 1991.
- Hamilton played football in his school team alongside current Aston Villa and England international midfielder Ashley Young.
- He said that if Formula 1 had not worked for him he would have been a footballer or a cricketer, having played both for his school teams as a youngster.
- Hamilton lives in Switzerland to get away from the media scrutiny he has experienced living in the UK. He has admitted that taxation was partly responsible for his decision. Other F1 drivers who live in Switzerland are Michael Schumacher, Kimi Räikkönen and Fernando Alonso.
- Hamilton is dating Nicole Scherzinger, the lead singer of the American girl band Pussycat Dolls.
- He was awarded an MBE by the Queen in the 2009 New Year Honours.
