Lewis Hamilton has always been a racing prodigy. Back in 1998 the McLaren Driver Development Programme (or the McLaren-Mercedes Young Driver Support Programme at the time) recognised this and signed him, at the age of 13. Hamilton had famously introduced himself to McLaren boss Ron Dennis at an awards ceremony in 1995 by showing him his karting trophy and proclaiming that he wanted to race his cars someday. Maybe his forward approach did the trick as his subsequent signing at the age of 13 made him the youngest person (at the time) to receive a multi-year backing deal from a F1 team. This long term backing paved the way for his eventual F1 graduation in 2007, and his maiden title in 2008.
A young Lewis Hamilton in a very oversized McLaren racesuit
McLaren then supported his progression through European Karting, Formula Renault (which he won in 2003), the Formula 3 Euro series (won in 2005), and GP2 (winning the title in 2006). His domination of single seaters earned him graduation to the McLaren-Mercedes F1 team in 2007 at the age of 22.
Lewis was 22 when he was promoted from GP2 to McLaren in F1
His rookie season in F1 was nothing short of incredible. He secured 12 podiums and 4 wins, falling just short of the world championship by one point and ultimately finishing in 2nd place behind Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen. He did all of this while battling his 2 time world champion teammate Fernando Alonso.
His season got off to a stellar start. He immediately proved he had pace, qualifying in P4. This lined him up right behind Alonso as Räikkönen took pole. When the lights went out on race day he had a mega start and he went around the outside of his teammate and Heidfeld to put himself into second place. He held onto this position until the final round of stops, which allowed Alonso on a favoured strategy to leapfrog him. Nonetheless, Hamilton finished his debut Grand Prix in third. This was a sign of the great things to come. Next time out in Malaysia, he one upped himself and finished in second place. He then proceeded to go on a four race streak of second place finishes. By Monaco he was getting frustrated at coming so close yet missing out on the win, feeling as though he should have won that race and McLaren were favouring Alonso.
He achieved a podium on his debut, finishing 3rd in Australia
He broke this streak in Canada, where he claimed his first race win in style. The 2007 Canadian Grand Prix was filled with chaos, yet Hamilton led calmly through it all. Lewis started from pole position, claiming his first in qualifying the day prior. The race was disrupted by four safety cars, meaning the strategies were utter chaos. One safety car was brought out on lap 27 because of Kubica’s horrifying crash at the hairpin going around 186 mph, which he somehow only walked away with a concussion and a sprained ankle. This race also saw the rare appearance of the black flag when Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella were disqualified for leaving the pitlane while the red light was on. Nonetheless, Hamilton kept calm through the chaos and seemed in complete control until the end to claim his maiden win.
His joy as he claimed his first win in Canada
Lewis then caught the wining bug and claimed victory next time out on tack in Indianapolis. He then dipped to P3 finishes in France and Britain, this being particularly annoying in Britain as he qualified on pole for his home race.
The European Grand Prix was a nightmare for the young Brit. He started in 10th place and finished in P9 but he pulled himself back to winning ways as he claimed pole and a victory in Hungary. His results dipped once again in Turkey as he qualified in 2nd, but dropped to P5 in the race. This was a shame as he was running third in the race but with 15 laps remaining his front right tire fell apart in turn 9, forcing him to limp back to the pits and make an unexpected stop. In Monza he came back with a second place finish and then a forth place finish in spa. In Japan he claimed his fourth and final win of the 2007 season.
China was a turning point for his championship hopes. He qualified on pole and could have won the race, however he famously crashed when entering the pitlane which caused him to retire from the Grand Prix in a rather embarrassing fashion. With this being the penultimate round of the championships this had massive implications for his title hopes. Before this race he held a 12 point gap over Alonso and a 17 point lead over Räikkönen and by the end of it he had a 4 point gap over Alonso and a 7 point gap over Räikkönen. This completely erased his safety blanket heading into the final round of the championship in Interlagos.
Heartbreak as he crashed on pit entry in China, and a pivotal moment in the championship
Brazil was again not the race he needed to close out the championship. He qualified in second, but in the course of the race dropped to 7th. Alonso overtook him at the start of the race so Hamilton tried an aggressive move around the outside to reclaim his position, but he ran wide and dropped down into 8th on the opening lap. Then, on lap 8, Hamilton experienced a gearbox glitch. It resolved itself but the momentary issue dropped him down to 18th. He managed to recover to 7th but the damage was done. Räikkönen had the perfect race and went onto claim victory and in turn the championship by 1 point. Hamilton’s rookie season ended in heartbreak but he made up for it a year later in Brazil as he did eventually claim his maiden title in 2008.
Hamilton going wide when fighting Alonso.
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