Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton MBE (born 7 January 1985 in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, UK) is a British racing driver and former FIA GP2 Series Champion, who won the 2006 edition of the Series. Better known for his legendary exploits in Formula One, Hamilton would win the GP2 Series at his first attempt in 2006, following the footsteps of his former karting teammate Nico Rosberg.

After sweeping to the Championship in the Formula 3 Euro Series in 2005, Hamilton moved into GP2 in 2006, joining reigning Champions ART Grand Prix. The Brit would go on to claim five wins in the first half of the season, before repulsing a late season challenge from Nelson Piquet Jr. to claim the Championship by twelve points.

Having won the GP2 title, Hamilton made a much anticipated move to McLaren in F1, and would immediately emerge as a title pretender. The Brit would go on to claim the F1 crown in 2008 with McLaren, and would win a race in every season with the British squad before moving to Mercedes in 2013.

That move proved to be a fateful one for Hamilton, with the Brit reuniting with Rosberg just in time for a major rule change to hybrid engines that Mercedes mastered. Armed with the best car in the field, Hamilton claimed the 2014 and 2015 F1 titles, missed out to Rosberg in 2016, before claiming four in a row between 2017 and 2020 to match the record of F1 legend Michael Schumacher.

Background
Hamilton began racing karts at the age of three, although it was only at the age of eight that he was legally able to race competitively in his native Britain. After claiming numerous honours and plaudits from across the racing world, including being inducted in the McLaren Young Driver Programme in 1998, Hamilton stepped up to car racing at the end of 2001, entering the Formula Renault UK Winter Series. After four appearances Hamilton secured a seat in the full FR UK Championship for 2002, with the Brit claiming three wins en-route to third behind Danny Watts and Jamie Green.

Manors and Masters: 2002 - 2005
Remaining with Manor Motorsport for 2003, Hamilton would go on to claim the FR UK championship with ten wins in fifteen races, while also making his debut in the British F3 Championship and Macau Grand Prix. For 2004 Manor would move Hamilton to their Formula 3 Euro Series for the season, with the Brit going on to claim a single win a fifth in the championship as Green claimed the title. A change to ASM Formule 3 would follow for the Brit in 2005, with Hamilton going on to claim a dominant championship victory with fifteen wins in twenty races.

2005 also saw Hamilton claim the Masters of Formula 3 title at Zandvoort, in a filed that featured future F1 rival Sebastian Vettel.

Post GP2 Series Career
After claiming the GP2 crown, Hamilton was duly promoted to the McLaren Formula One squad for 2007, partnering defending World Champion Fernando Alonso. Instantly emerging as a title pretender, Hamilton and Alonso's relationship deteriorated during the 2007 season, with both ultimately missing out on the title by a single point. In 2008 Hamilton would rebound brilliantly to claim his maiden F1 crown, defeating Felipe Massa in a season long duel.

A change of regulations for 2009 would undercut Hamilton's momentum however, resulting in a barren run from 2009 until 2012, although Hamilton still claimed multiple victories in every season. In 2013 Hamilton made the decision to move to the factory Mercedes team, reuniting with former karting teammate Nico Rosberg. Replacing Michael Schumacher at the team, Hamilton and Rosberg would claim a handful of wins, before a major regulation change went in the Silver Arrows' favour.

The introduction of hybrid engines in F1 for 2014 would leave Mercedes in a class of their own at the head of the field, leaving Hamilton and Rosberg to fight for the title alone. The Brit duly won their first exchange to claim the 2014 title, before again defeating Rosberg in 2015 to claim his third title. In 2016 the Hamilton-Rosberg relationship collapsed as Rosberg made a more aggressive push for the crown, with the German racer duly defeating Hamilton in a tense season-long duel.

Rosberg duly retired within days of taking the title, leaving Hamilton with a new teammate in the form of Valtteri Bottas for 2017. With Mercedes still having an advantage over the rest of the field, Hamilton dominated the season to claim the 2017 title, despite increased resistance from Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari. Vettel duly emerged as Hamilton's main rival in 2018 and 2019, although Hamilton would defeat the German comfortably in both campaigns to claim his fifth and sixth titles.

2020 saw speculation about Hamilton's future with Mercedes run rife through the paddock and media, although not enough to undermine his bid to match Schumacher's record of seven World Championships. Indeed, another dominant season for the Brit saw Hamilton duly claim his seventh World Championship, while also overhauling Schumacher's record for most Grand Prix wins.

Full GP2 Series Record
Shown below are a series of tables outlining 's career in the GP2 Series in statistical form.

GP2 Series Entries
The list below includes all of the teams and cars, as well as overall finishing positions for during their GP2 career:

Career Results
Below is a table showing 's full GP2 Series record.