Lewis Hamilton

Grenadian Making Waves

Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton was born and raised in Stevenage, Hertfordshire England on January 7th, 1985. He is a British racing driver who races in Formula One for Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport. Lewis is a six times Formula One World Champion; he is widely regarded as one of the greatest drivers in the history of the sport and considered by some to be the greatest of all time. He won his first World Drivers’ Championship with McLaren in 2008, before moving to Mercedes in 2013, where he has won five additional titles.

Lewis Hamilton was named after African American sprinter Carl Lewis. Both of his parents, Anthony Hamilton and Carmen Lockhart were born in the United Kingdom. Lewis Hamilton’s grandfather, Davidson Hamilton emigrated from Grenada to the United Kingdom in 1955. Lewis’s parents separated when he was two and as a result of this, he lived with his mother and half-sisters until he was twelve. He then lived with his father and stepmother Linda and half brother Nicolas who is also a professional racing driver with cerbal palsy. Hamilton was raised as a Roman Catholic.

At the age of five Hamilton took up karate to defend himself as a result of bullying at school, later he learned to ride a unicycle as part of his karting rivalry with future Formula One Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg. Hamilton’s father bought him a radio-controlled car in 1991, which gave him his first taste of racing competition before finishing second in the national BRCA championship the following year. He said at the time: “I was racing these remote controlled cars and winning club championships against adults.

His father bought him a Go Kart for Christmas when Hamilton was sixand promised to support his racing career as long as he worked hard at school. To support his son, Anthony withdrew himself from his prominent career by taking a pay cut from his position as an IT manager and became a contractor; sometimes working up to three jobs at a time, while still attending all his son’s races. Anthony later set up his own computer company, still managing his son. Lewis would later end his working relationship with his father in early 2010.

Lewis is one of the most successful drivers in the history of the sport, His six World Championship titles is the second most of all time, as is his tally of 84 race victories and 151 podium finishes. He currently holds the records for the all time most career points (3431), the all time most pole positions (88), the most grand slams in a season (3) and the most points in a season (413).

Hamilton enjoyed a successful ascent up the racing ladder and was signed to the McLaren young driver programmed in 1998. This later resulted in a Formula One drive with McLaren in 2007, making Hamilton the first and only black driver to race in the sport. That season, Hamilton set numerous records as he finished runner up to Kimi Räikkönen by one point. The following season, he won his maiden title in dramatic fashion making a crucial overtake on the last corner of the last lap in the last race of the season to become the then youngest Formula One World Champion in history. After four more years with McLaren without finishing higher than fourth in the drivers’ standings, Hamilton signed with Mercedes in 2013 reuniting with his childhood karting teammate, Nico Rosberg.

Hamilton has been credited with furthering Formula One’s global following by appealing to a broader audience outside the sport, in part due to his high-profile lifestyle and other ventures, including his environmental activism and exploits in music and fashion. Hamilton has been targeted by racist abuse throughout his career and has been outspoken in his criticism of racial politics in Formula One as well as calling for greater diversity in the sport. His treatment by British newspapers has also been criticized for carrying racial bias, and some have pointed to Hamilton’s race and physical appearance as reasons behind his perceived unpopularity among a portion of motorsport fans. He had a net worth of $280 million in the year 2015. He is also listed among Britain’s richest young sportsman under the age of 30.