Hamilton was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, December 1985.
At the age of ten, he approached Ron Dennis head of McLaren at the
Autosport Awards ceremony and said to him, "I want to race your cars one day."
Less than three years later McLaren signed him to their Young Driver Support Programme.
After winning the British Formula Renault, Formula Three Euroseries, and GP2 championships
on his way up the racing career ladder, he drove for McLaren in 2007, making his
Formula One debut 12 years after his initial encounter with Dennis.
Hamilton's contract for the McLaren driver development program made him the youngest
ever driver to secure a contract which later resulted in a Formula One drive.
In his first season in Formula One, Hamilton set numerous records, while finishing second
in the 2007 Formula One Championship, just one point behind Kimi Räikkönen.
He won the World Championship the following season, becoming the youngest Formula One
champion in history at the time. Following his second world title in 2014 he was named the
BBC Sports Personality of the Year. He is the only driver on the current grid to
have won at least one race in each season he has competed in to date,
with McLaren from 2007 until 2012, and with Mercedes since 2013.
He has more race victories than any other British driver in the history of Formula One.
