Profile: Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton (original) (raw)

Sunday March 18, Albert Park, Melbourne, and on the opening day of the 2007 Grand Prix season Lewis Hamilton is preparing for his Formula 1 debut.

Remarkably for a 22-year-old, Hamilton's black-and-silver McLaren Mercedes sits on the second row of the grid, in front of 18 machines piloted by vastly more experienced drivers.

McLaren's team principal Ron Dennis has asked that TV companies refrain from conducting pre-race interviews, and the driver squats against the pit wall listening to final words from the man who has guided his career for a decade.

After the race, in which Hamilton astonished observers by finishing third, Dennis revealed what his advice had been. "I told him to hold his position at the start and not do anything stupid."

What Hamilton did announced the nature of his prodigious gift. Squeezed from the outside, he headed to the outside of the opening turn, rounding two cars including team-mate and reigning world champion Fernando Alonso, to leave himself heading to the second bend with only a Ferrari in front of him. As a declaration of intent and talent it has rarely been matched.

Hamilton's debut, and his feat in becoming the first driver to finish in the top three in his first three races, has sparked a level of interest in F1 unseen in the UK since the mid 1990s when Damon Hill won Britain's last world championship.

Mark Sharman, head of ITV Sport which broadcasts F1, is convinced he is the most exciting sportsman in Britain. "If Lewis begins to win races he will become the biggest sports star in Britain in no time. He's one of a new breed of young sportsmen like Theo Walcott and Amir Khan who are a breath of fresh air, and he's hugely exciting."

Former Formula 1 driver Mark Blundell, now working as ITV's main analyst, said Hamilton had exceeded expectations. "This is a multi-million pound outfit with close to 1,000 people involved in getting the car to the grid. All their work and all the expectations of the sponsors rest on Lewis's shoulders.

"He's the first black driver, he came with a lot of expectation having won the support series GP2 last year, but inside three races all we're talking about is a great new driver. Last week he beat the world champion driving an identical car, and did it in style. This is a sport that lost a superstar in Michael Schumacher last year, and people are wondering if we might have found the replacement."

To appreciate the significance of Hamilton's rise you have to consider where he started. F1 has never before offered a seat to a black driver, and regardless of colour few have come from backgrounds as ordinary as Hamilton's.

His father Anthony moved to the UK from Grenada when he was three and started a family in Hertfordshire - Lewis has a brother Nicolas who has cerebral palsy - while working for British Rail. Separated from his wife when Lewis was two, Anthony raised the boys alone, indulging his interest in motorsport by encouraging Lewis to take an interest.

Aged five Lewis began driving a remote controlled car, and he won his first kart race aged eight. At 14 he competed in a televised karting series Champions of the Future, a series backed by McLaren Mercedes. He won and was signed by Dennis who has guided his career since.

The product of this grooming is a young man apparently fully-formed and prepared for the demands of F1. Peers comment on his pace, engineers praise his ability to interpret performance and assist technical development, and sponsors and broadcasters adore his level-headed, well-mannered demeanour.

Martin Hines, owner of the Zipkart team, was among the first to recognise Lewis's talent. "We helped out with equipment when the boy was starting. It sounds smug but we always sort of knew he could be this good.

"Lewis has always been under pressure, at the front with older, more experienced kids behind him. It was a great grounding for what he's going through now. To succeed you need the talent to drive fast, large testicles to want to go faster than you think you can, and the determination to win. If you've got all that you need to be 100% focused and if you can keep that up for 10 years then you have Lewis Hamilton."

The CV

Born January 7 1985 in Stevenage to Carmen and Anthony.

Career British Cadet Karting champion 1995; won McLaren Mercedes Champions of the Future series 1996, 1997; karting European & World Cup champion 2000; Formula Renault UK champion 2003; European Formula 3 champion 2005; GP2 champion 2006; Formula 1 debut March 2007.

He says "I'm not Tiger Woods, I'm Lewis Hamilton. But I think he's a sensational athlete. I hope I can do the same in Formula 1."

They say "The best thing to happen to Formula 1 in my time" - Stirling Moss