Lewis Hamilton: Profile, Championships, Racing Style & more

Lewis Hamilton is the most successful driver in F1 history and the seven-time world champion remains hungry to extend his astonishing racing record.

The British star holds records for most race wins (105), pole positions (104) and podiums (202) and has won world titles for both McLaren and Mercedes.

In 2025 he will be racing for Ferrari, merging one of the world's most notable athletes with the sport's most fabled team.

Born	7th January, 1985
Current team	Ferrari
Previous team(s)	Mercedes, McLaren
F1 debut	2007 Australian Grand Prix
F1 titles	7 (2008, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)

Lewis Hamilton's career so far

Biography

One of the most successful Formula 1 drivers of all time, Lewis Hamilton has rewrote the record books since his debut in 2007.

Commencing his career in the elite tier of motorsport with McLaren, Hamilton won one world title with the Woking-based constructor before making the outlandish decision to join Mercedes in 2013.

His switch was vindicated with a further six world championships, eclipsing the great Michael Schumacher and cementing his status as one of the greatest - if not the greatest - to have graced the sport.

Ending his trophy-laden association with Mercedes in favour of joining Ferrari in 2025, Hamilton's move to the Maranello giants has been greeted with incredible fanfare.

Journey to F1

Hamilton's first racing success came racing radio-controlled cars, while he began karting aged eight and became the youngest winner of the British cadet class when he was 10.

He was signed to McLaren's driver development programme in 1998 and won the karting World Cup and European Championship two years later.

He moved to single-seater car racing in 2001, starting in the British Formula Renault series, and won the series for Manor Motorsport in 2003. 

In 2005 he was Formula 3 Euroseries champion with 15 wins in 20 races and in 2006 he moved up to GP2 with ART Grand Prix, winning the championship after a battle with Nelson Piquet Jr. and scoring a notable double victory in the support races for that year's British Grand Prix.

F1 career to date

McLaren

Hamilton moved into F1 with McLaren in 2007 and almost won the title in his rookie season. He finished third in his debut race in Australia and was on the podium for the first nine races of his career, an F1 record.

That run included his first F1 race win in Canada and he also won the following race at Indianapolis before adding victories in Hungary and Japan.

Hamilton's battle with his team-mate Fernando Alonso quickly turned sour, though, and they ended the year finishing second and third in the championship, both one point behind Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen. 

Hamilton's first career retirement in the penultimate race of the season in China cost him a sensational debut title, but he did not have to wait long for it to arrive.

Hamilton won his first world championship in a dramatic finish in 2008, when he overtook the Toyota's Timo Glock on the final lap of a rain-affected finale in Brazil to beat Ferrari's Felipe Massa to the title by one point.

That was to be his only title success with the British team, as he finished fourth or fifth in each of the next four seasons, although he was able to pick up multiple wins in each of those campaigns.

Mercedes

Hamilton caused controversy when he announced he was leaving to join Mercedes for 2013, as the German team had been no better than a midfield outfit at that stage, but he was at the forefront of their success as they became the dominant force in the sport.

After winning his first race for Mercedes in the 2013 Hungarian Grand Prix, Hamilton won the next two championships with 21 wins across the 2014 and 2015 seasons.

His run of titles was interrupted in 2016 when team-mate Nico Rosberg pipped him by five points in a season when Hamilton retired from two races and the German failed to score only once.

Hamilton then became champion for the next four seasons, winning 42 races to give him an incredible run of six titles in seven seasons in a sequence that might easily have gone on one year longer.

The 2021 F1 season is one of the most notorious in the sport's history as Hamilton's run of titles came to an end in a controversial finish to the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. 

The Mercedes driver was on course to seal his eighth championship when a disputed stewarding decision enabled rival Max Verstappen to close up right behind leader Hamilton on fresher tyres after a late safety-car period, before overtaking soon after the restart to begin his own run of title successes.

Mercedes took a wrong turn with their car design over the 2022 and 2023 seasons, resulting in the only winless campaigns of Hamilton's career, although he still managed to finish sixth and third in the championship.

In the 2024 British Grand Prix, Hamilton took the chequered flag 945 days after his last race win, clinching an historic ninth victory for the Briton at Silverstone. It was not his only success in that season, having notched up his 105th career triumph in Belgium.

Ferrari

Hamilton will embark on a new chapter with Ferrari in 2025 as he bids to achieve an unprecedented eighth world championship.

Lewis Hamilton F1 records

Lewis Hamilton holds the record for most wins (105), most pole positions (104) and podiums (202), whilst sharing the record for most titles alongside Michael Schumacher with seven.

In 2024, he claimed the record of most wins at the same Grand Prix, sealing his ninth career victory at the British Grand Prix.

Here's a list of other records he holds:

• Most consecutive race starts - 265
• Most races with a single team - 246
• Most consecutive wins at same Grand Prix - 5 (Spanish GP)
• Most poles at same Grand Prix - 9 (Hungarian GP)
• Most consecutive seasons with a win - 15
• Most seasons with a podium - 18
• Most front-row starts - 176
• Most fastest laps by different circuit - 27
• Most points scoring races - 313
• Most podiums by different Grand Prix - 37
• Most podiums at one circuit - 15 (Silverstone)
• Most grands prix led from start-to-finish - 23
• Most consecutive years leading a Grand Prix - 18

Lewis Hamilton best races

Where do you even begin?

Hamilton's maiden Grand Prix victory in Canada set the tone for what would follow in the subsequent decades, but it was his British Grand Prix triumph in 2008 which really showcased the Briton's sublime skillset.

In appalling Silverstone conditions, Hamilton put one one of the virtuoso wet-weather drives to lap every driver bar two, finishing over a minute ahead of second-placed Nick Heidfeld.

The rain has often brought out the best in Hamilton and that was the case when he claimed his seventh world title at Istanbul Par in Turkey. Qualifying in sixth and with his domineering W11 struggling for performance on the treacherous surface, the Mercedes driver managed to unearth a speed and rhythm amidst all the chaos and ended up winning by 30 seconds.

Who could forget the duel in the desert? 2014 saw Hamilton embroiled in a sensational battle for the win against team-mate Nico Rosberg in Bahrain, a fight that Hamilton ultimately prevailed in.

For several laps the pair were racing side-by-side. trading positions with a series of daring overtakes and robust defensive moves. Whatever Rosberg conjured, Hamilton had the answer.

Lewis Hamilton best seasons & World Championship wins

Agonisingly close to being crowned world champion in his maiden season, Lewis Hamilton atoned in 2008 as he snatched the title from Felipe Massa's clutches in the most astonishing cicumstances.

Needing to make up one position on the final lap of the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix, Hamilton passed a stricken Timo Glock with three corners remaining to clinch the title by a point.

He would have to wait another six years before his next world title and Hamilton achieved it by finishing on the podium in all but three of the 19 races, aided by the supremacy of the Mercedes W05.

Hamilton retained his title the following year before relinquishing his crown to Nico Rosberg in 2016, missing out on the championship by five points. The Briton survived the threat of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel in 2017 and 2018 to extend his world title haul, while in 2019 Hamilton was a cut above the field as he finished 87 points clear of his team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

2020 saw Hamilton behind the wheel of arguably the pinnacle of Formula 1 machinery, the Mercedes W11. The result was a seventh world championship in a season where Hamilton could even afford to sit out the penultimate Sakhir Grand Prix and still finish 124 points ahead of his nearest title challenger, Bottas.

The following season saw Hamilton entangled with Max Verstappen in a remarkable duel for the title, only for the Mercedes driver to miss out on an unprecedented eighth title in controversial circumstances.

Lewis Hamilton nationality

Where is Lewis Hamilton from?

Lewis Hamilton hails from Stevenage in Hertfordshire, England.

He's made several visits to the town in recent years, including an event hosted by Stevenage Borough Council aimed at helping young people into STEM careers.

Lewis Hamilton net worth

Hamilton's net worth has been reported to be around £350 million.

Lewis Hamilton racing style

Hamilton has matured into a more calculated and methodical racer as the years have progressed, and yet he's still not afraid to get his elbows out and jump late on the brakes when attempting to overtake.

The Briton has encountered difficulties with the characteristics of the modern ground-effect cars, especially in qualifying, where his aggressive approach to low-speed corners unnerves the car.

A master at preserving his tyres, Hamilton has been commended for his ability to extract the maximum performance for a longer duration by implementing a smoother style during a race.

Thoughts on Lewis Hamilton's racing style

Lewis is the champion I aspire to be - hard but fair, never beyond the line.

Mercedes driver George Russell (BBC Sport) - December 2024

Lewis is very smart. The way he positions the car around a bend, for example. He is less aggressive but he thinks more. If he doesn’t overtake you at one point it’s because he’s thinking of another, simpler one in which to attack.

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc (Corriere dello Sport) - July 2023