Time for the first profile of an active driver, which naturally means that the stats are subject to change. What is not subject to change – at least not for a few years – is that Lewis Hamilton is statistically the most successful driver in Formula 1 history. With seven world championships, 105 wins at the time of posting this, 104 pole positions too, and 67 fastest laps, Hamilton has left an indelible mark on the sport.
It can be argued that Hamilton is among the last drivers from a working class background to crack F1, though there could well be others worthy of that recognition as well. Why do I say that? Because Hamilton grew up in a town I know very well, so I also know a little something of his background.
Stressful Times in Stevenage
I like to tell people that Hamilton and I have something in common, and we do: we were both raised in the Hertfordshire town of Stevenage, located north of London. I should add that this is the only thing we have in common. I am a few years older than he, we lived in different parts of town, went to different schools, and generally have different memories and impressions of the place. I dare say that Hamilton’s reflections of Stevenage are not as pleasant as mine, thanks in no small part to growing up in a rougher estate than others, and facing expulsion from school over a case of mistaken identity. Hamilton also faced racial abuse as a child, when he went with his father to the British Radio Car Association Championship, having received such a car as a Christmas gift.
Hamilton’s father Anthony told him that he’d get a go-kart for Christmas at the age of six, provided that he worked hard at school. To support Hamilton’s burgeoning ambitions his father worked several jobs, whilst also maintaining a supportive presence at the races. Hamilton broke into karting in 1993, and swiftly began to win races and tournaments. In fact, at the age of 10, Hamilton became the youngest driver to win the British Cadet Karting Championship, and that same year he boldly told Mclaren boss Ron Dennis that he wanted to drive his cars one day.
By 1998, Hamilton had placed himself firmly on the radar. Wins in feeder series meant he had the attention of Dennis, who offered him a role in McLaren’s driver development programme, which also included the offer of an F1 drive, if everything panned out. There was a little bit of aggro with another of McLaren’s bosses, Martin Whitmarsh, but it culminated with Hamilton racing in GP2 (the then-equivalent of Formula 2) in 2006, and he won the series at the first attempt. This was enough for him to earn the coveted seat at McLaren, where he would be paired with the then-reigning world champion Fernando Alonso.
Record-Breaking Debuts
Whilst the media and paddock buzz suggested Hamilton would be good, no one necessarily expected a sustained title challenge, and no one particularly believed Hamilton would seriously threaten the established, two-time champion Alonso. Alonso was a proven quantity, and a proven quality as well. Instead, Hamilton would demonstrate precisely why McLaren had been prepared to offer him a seat, and in the process, the young Briton seriously rattled Alonso. Hamilton finished on the podium in his first nine races, with four second places, three third places, and two victories. His first win came in Canada, which he immediately followed up with a win in the USA.
Alonso believed that he should have been given number-one status within the team, but McLaren historically did not operate with team orders, and they did not make an exception here. However, the team also failed to learn lessons from history. In 1986, the squabbling Williams duo of Mansell and Piquet tripped over each other enough for Prost to win the title. Here, the in-fighting kept Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen in play. Nonetheless, Hamilton (who missed a great chance to clinch the title in the penultimate race in China), went into the final round in Brazil with every opportunity to win the world championship at the first attempt.
Alas, it was not to be. On the day, Hamilton lacked the pace, and the Ferraris did. Raikkonen won the race, and with Hamilton down in seventh, that was enough for the Finn to win. However, as a silver lining, Hamilton did classify ahead of Alonso; the two ended level on points, but by virtue of count-back of wins, podiums etc, Hamilton was runner-up in the standings. He had beaten the world champion, in his debut season and with the same car.
A year later, after another season of battling with a Ferrari, this time driven by Brazilian Felipe Massa, Lewis Hamilton again went to Brazil with the world championship in his grasp. After a season that saw some sensational drives (Hamilton won a wet British Grand Prix by more than a minute, and also won in Monaco for the first time), he needed to be fifth or higher if Massa won the race. Sure enough, in changing conditions, Massa kept his head, and won the race to the delight of the home crowd. However Hamilton, having been denied by the narrowest of margins in 2007, would this time squeak into fifth at the final corners, and claim the result that gave him his first world championship. At the time, Hamilton was the youngest world champion in the sport’s history.
The Barren Run
This early career success did not translate into sustained success. McLaren (like several teams) were caught flat-footed by regulation changes for 2009. They provided a good car in 2010, and in 2012, but the team lacked a truly great car, and as good as Hamilton is, he could not quite take the machinery to the next level, especially in the wake of the dominant Red Bulls. He would win races in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, but nothing quite clicked for him. He also be the first to admit that off-track distractions hindered him in 2011.
The net result of inconsistency was that by 2012, Hamilton was growing increasingly fed up. Between mechanical problems and pit-stop problems in 2012, he decided to take a career-defining decision, and announced he would leave McLaren for Mercedes at the end of the year. This move raised eyebrows – including my own – for at that point, McLaren were proven race winners, and Mercedes – since their 2010 return to F1 – had taken just one victory, in 2012.
The Duel of the Silver Arrows
For 2013, Hamilton was paired with an old friend. He and Nico Rosberg (son of former F1 champion Keke Rosberg) knew each other from their days in the feeder series’, and following something of a transitional year in 2013, the duo would soon be unrivalled in the title battle. Hamilton had been sold a dream by Mercedes, namely that for the 2014 rule changes, they would deliver a car that was truly special. This would pan out not only to be correct, but on a scale that Hamilton and Mercedes could scarcely believe.
As a team, the Silver Arrows won 16 of 19 races. Hamilton won 11 of those, though the title race went down to the wire (albeit only loosely), thanks to mechanical failures for Hamilton, and consistency from Rosberg. Their friendship was tested in flashpoints at Monaco (where a conveniently-timed error from Rosberg assured him of pole) and Belgium (where a clumsy move from Rosberg gave Hamilton a puncture, and damaged his car), but this was nothing compared to what awaited them. Hamilton was champion for the second time, and with the best car on the grid, he was far from finished.
In 2015, Hamilton led every round of the championship. He arguably elevated his performance, and won 10 races on his way to his third world championship, which he secured with three races to go. In achieving this, Hamilton emulated his boyhood hero Ayrton Senna, and shed a few tears as he crossed the finish line. He also marked himself as one of the greats.
2016 was the year Hamilton’s friendship with Rosberg completely broke down. Once again the title battle was a private affair between the Mercedes teammates, only Rosberg had the better start to the campaign. Having won the final three races of 2015, Rosberg won the first four grands prix of 2016, placing himself in a commanding position. Hamilton had mixed results, through a combination of driver error (sometimes his own, sometimes not), and technical trouble, which left him trailing Rosberg far more than he would have liked.
The frustration from this boiled over at the start of the fifth round in Spain. Hamilton had taken pole, but lost the lead to Rosberg at the start. Determined to get back ahead, Hamilton darted to the inside a few corners later, Rosberg, who had been slightly preoccupied with his dashboard, moved over, and the two collected one another, spinning off into the gravel. Both blamed the other, and were barely on speaking terms for the rest of the season. Hamilton subsequently put together a few wins, and a strong middle spell saw him overhaul Rosberg, though not without further hijinks. Another collision, on the final lap in Austria, saw Rosberg come off worse; he finished fourth, whilst Hamilton won.
Further erratic performances from Hamilton (he could have done better in Italy, and should have done better in Singapore) were also rendered worse by an engine blowout whilst leading in Malaysia. Had Hamilton won, his run of winning the final four races would have carried him to a fourth world championship, but instead, despite his efforts, he conceded the title to Rosberg, who finished second in the four last races to become champion.
Champion vs Champion
Rosberg retired at the end of 2016, wishing to end his career on a high, and not willing to endure more fraught battles with Hamilton. Hamilton’s new teammate, Valtteri Bottas, would prove a decent replacement, but he would never be quick enough to threaten Hamilton. Instead, 2017’s challenge came from another world champion. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who had won four consecutive titles from 2010 to 2013 whilst at Red Bull, had waited patiently for Ferrari to deliver a car that could challenge, and in the wake of 2017’s rule changes (which saw cars get wider, wings get lower, and speeds increase), it appeared he had exactly that. There were some entertaining tussles on the track, not least of all in Azerbaijan, where Vettel deliberately banged wheels with Hamilton, following a misunderstanding behind a safety car, but Hamilton benefited from moments of self-destruction on the part of his challenger.
Of these, the most noteworthy came in Singapore. With Hamilton three points ahead in the standings, Vettel had a great chance to take the lead in the championship, and he had qualified on pole, with Hamilton down in fifth. Instead of seizing this opportunity, Vettel cut off Max Verstappen at the start, and in the process squeezed his own teammate, Kimi Raikkonen. The trio were all out on the first lap, and in the chaos, Hamilton got into the lead. He ended the weekend with a commanding edge in the championship, which he would not relinquish.
As a result, 2018 marked the first time two four-time champions would go head-to-head. Once again, Ferrari and Vettel provided Hamilton with the main challenge, but once again Hamilton kept his head, whilst Vettel would make an unforced error at his home grand prix in Germany, once again handing Hamilton the initiative. With five world championships to his name, you might have forgiven Hamilton if he no longer felt as hungry for success as he once did, but he was dominant in 2019, largely not threatened from within or without. With the records falling to him one by one, it seemed only a matter of time before Hamilton would equal Michael Schumacher’s record of seven world championships.
Indomitable Spirit
2020 was a difficult year for everyone. The covid pandemic swept across the world, and disrupted the lives of virtually every person on earth. Formula 1 was no different, and the season was postponed, with racing action not starting until July. How would the teams and drivers handle the revisions and chaos? 17 races would decide the championship – fewer than usual by that point – and once again Mercedes would be the team to beat. Hamilton was peerless, and produced one of the best wet-weather displays of his career to win the Turkish Grand Prix, where he sealed his seventh world championship.
In doing so, Hamilton had demonstrated his determination in no uncertain terms. It would have been easy for him to step aside after his fourth or fifth championship, but his desire to continue had kept him pushing, and kept him winning. All of a sudden, the possibility of breaking Schumacher’s seemingly unreachable record was in firmly in sight.
The Closest Fight
If you ever want to show how modern F1 remains dramatic and exciting, show them footage from the 2021 season. For the first time, Red Bull gave Max Verstappen a car capable of fighting at the front. For the first time, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen would directly duel for the world championship, in a season filled with incendiary moments, and a finale that would go down in infamy.
As a Hamilton fan, I can barely bring myself to reference the events of that last race in Abu Dhabi, but I will come to that in more detail later on. The races leading up to it showcased the formidable abilities of both title challengers, with the pair often way clear of their teammates, and indeed everyone else. They gave us some magnificent battles, and some races – such as Hamilton’s charge through the pack in the Brazil sprint race, or his tenacity in Saudi Arabia – further demonstrated the experienced Briton’s immense talent. It wasn’t always smooth sailing, with Hamilton bumping wheels with Verstappen at the British Grand Prix, sending his rival off at speed. At the Italian Grand Prix, an ill-timed dive into turn one from Verstappen saw a tyre parked on Hamilton’s head (or it would have, if not for the halo device).
The result of a season-long fight for the championship is that the two men went into the final race level on points. In effect, Abu Dhabi became a sprint to the finish line, winner takes all.
Hamilton had qualified on pole, and led the early stages, despite Verstappen being on the faster tyre to begin with. After the pit stops had rippled through the pack, Hamilton still led. He was in complete control of the race, until Nicholas Latifi crashed out towards the end. What followed was one of the biggest failures of the sport’s officials to properly enforce their own rules, and in my view, a travesty.
The procedure under a safety car is to let all lapped cars through. With an eye to creating a dramatic final lap, former race director Michael Masi decided to let only the cars between Hamilton and Verstappen through, so that we’d get one more racing lap. Verstappen was on new, fresh soft tyres, and Hamilton on old, hard tyres. This effectively conferred a huge advantage to Verstappen, who took full advantage of it. He dove down the inside of Hamilton into the hairpin, took the lead, and the win, and with it, the championship.
It would be unfair to blame Verstappen for what happened, and in truth, his performances over the season had made him a worthy champion, however he did not deserve to win the race, and it was handed to him by a disregard for the rules. Hamilton was cruelly denied the eighth title he had arguably also earned over the course of the season, and he himself admitted he considered walking away at that moment.
Blunted Arrows, and a Red Horizon
The last couple of years have been tough for both Mercedes and Hamilton. The team tried something radical with car design in the new, ground-effect era, and not only did it not work, it hampered their development over the course of 2022 and 2023. For the first time in his career, Hamilton has endured win-less seasons in Formula 1, though at the 2024 British Grand Prix he mastered variable weather to claim his 104th win, and he inherited his 105th win when his teammate George Russell was disqualified from the Belgian Grand Prix.
Nonetheless, the struggles at Mercedes have led Hamilton to look at new pastures. At the start of 2024, he announced he would be leaving the Silver Arrows for Ferrari. Ferrari have had their own challenges, but as 2024 draws to a close, they look like the fastest team. Still, the move has raised eyebrows, but it’s worth remembering that people doubted Hamilton’s decision to leave McLaren for Mercedes, and that turned out to be pretty decent!
Career Stats
Hamilton has made 352 race starts in his career, and won 105 of those. He’s had 201 podium finishes, 104 pole positions, and 67 fastest laps, at the time of publishing this. Oh, and let’s not forget his seven world championships. Who would dare bet against him achieving even more success?