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It is well documented that at the tender age of 8, little Lewis Hamilton approached McLaren boss Ron Dennis, to advise him of his talents. The Englishman responded by telling the youngster to win some races then come talk to him again.
By the age of 10, Lewis had won his first British Kart Championship, and in the years that followed he added a further four titles to his tally.
Consequently, Dennis stuck to his word, and at the age of 13 Lewis was signed to the prestigious McLaren Driver Development Support programme, the youngest driver ever to be signed up by a Formula One team.
With the backing of the multiple World Champions, Lewis won the European and World Karting Championships, claiming Karting's World No 1 status in 2000 at the tender age of 15, the youngest driver to do so. That same year, Lewis won the Elf Masters at Bercy, in addition to being recognised by the British Racing Drivers' club (BRDC) with "Rising Star" membership.
In 2001 Lewis made the move up to single-seaters, contesting the Formula Renault Winter Series (finishing fifth overall), which led to a full season of Formula Renault in 2002, which saw the youngster finish third.
He remained in Formula Renault in 2003 and was a convincing champion, winning the series with two races remaining, courtesy of 10 wins, 9 fastest laps and 11 pole positions.
For 2004, Lewis, now aged 19, moved to the highly competitive Formula 3 Euroseries, which forms part of the support programme to the legendary DTM series. Driving for Manor Motorsport, in its rookie season in Europe, Lewis finished fifth, following a win at the Norisring and four further podiums. Along the way, he found time to win the Bahrain F3 Superprix and Race 1 at the Macau Grand Prix.
2005 saw Lewis progress further up the ladder, moving closer to his ultimate goal. Racing for ASM, he won the Formula 3 Euroseries, courtesy of 5 wins, 10 fastest laps and 13 Pole positions. Indeed, he won the series with four races remaining, such was his dominance.
In addition to the Formula 3 Euroseries, Lewis won the Pau F3 Grand Prix, the Monaco F3 Grand Prix and the F3 Marlboro Masters at Zandvoort, adding pole position and the lap record for good measure.
The next step was obvious, the GP2 Series, now in its second season.
If anyone in F1 hadn't heard of Lewis before, in 2006 they couldn't miss him, as he dominated the series which supports the Formula One World Championship in Europe. Despite the best efforts of Nelson Piquet Jr, Lewis took the title, and along the way produced a number of drives that had the cynics in the media room once again believing that motorsport could be exciting and fun. Five wins and 114 points doesn't do justice to some of the performances that the youngster delivered.
With the GP2 title in his pocket, and a couple of successful tests with the McLaren F1 team, not to mention a 'situation vacant' sign hanging over the second car in 2007, there was fierce speculation at to whether Lewis would make the (obvious) next step in 2007. Sure enough in late November, McLaren confirmed that the youngster would partner Fernando Alonso, who, just a few weeks earlier, had secured his second World Championship title.
Ahead of Lewis' debut season we 'warned' that it was unlikely we were going to witness the sort of performances in F1 that we had witnessed in GP2 in 2006, the reason being that F1 cars are not as overtaking-friendly as their GP2 cousins. "Nevertheless," we added, "Lewis is a good driver, and his talent will shine through. A year or so alongside Alonso should help the youngster".
A year or two? It was obvious after the first couple of races that Lewis was something special, something very special. Qualifying fourth in his first GP and converting this to a third place finish was one thing, however, qualifying fourth for his second race and finishing second to his teammate quite another.
While the British media got its knickers into an absolute twist claiming that Lewis was the new messiah, not merely of F1 but of British sport, we watched as the youngster gradually, but surely, ticked all the right boxes. There was starting from pole, dealing with extreme pressure, racing in the wet and fighting back after an error - not to mention dealing with a 'problematic' teammate.
A pre-season testing accident - one of his first outings in the new McLaren - had some members of the media, and even a few fellow drivers, questioning whether Lewis was quite ready for the big step up to F1. However, after a string of second places, two wins and a ten point lead in the Driver's Championship, all that was forgotten.
In his debut Grand Prix, Lewis cheekily passed his illustrious teammate going round the outside of Turn 1, a move that basically demonstrated not only the youngster's supreme confidence but also the fact that he would not be intimidated. To be fair, Alonso later re-passed Lewis, but the Englishman duly began a string of podium finishes that was to stretch until the European GP. Even then, at Hockenheim, Lewis ticked another box. After spinning off into the gravel in atrocious conditions on the opening lap, he remained cool calm and collected, kept the car going got the marshals to put him back on track and into the race.
Off track, no matter how Lewis and his team tried to spin things, it was clear that all was not well within the team, with Fernando Alonso's nose firmly out of joint. A double World Champion and a precocious young talented teammate is a recipe for disaster, and despite Ron Dennis' insistence that he could manage the two things slowly began to fall apart. In Hungary, Lewis refused to honour an agreement and allow Alonso to pass him in the opening stages of the third phase of qualifying. The Spaniard responded by delaying the Englishman during his final pit stop. After that, the gloves were off.
Having broken all manner of records, by season end it seemed a mere formality that Lewis would become the youngest World Champion in the history of the sport, the championship was his, and McLaren's to lose. Sure, Fernando was still in there, as was Kimi Raikkonen, but Lewis appeared to be a shoe-in for his maiden title.
In China however, things went disastrously wrong, a dreadful decision by the team was compounded (no pun intended) by a needless error from the rookie, who crashed out as he entered the pitlane, his only DNF of the season. However, even going into the last round Lewis had a 4 point advantage over his teammte and a 10 point lead over Raikkonen. Once again, disaster, this time a minor mistake, followed by a gearbox problem dropped him down the field. He gamely fought back, finally finishing seventh, but it was not enough. The title was Raikkonen's, while Lewis, on the same number of points as Alonso, finished runner-up in the championship on count back.
A subsequent challenge regarding a stewards' investigation into the fuel used by Williams and BMW offered Hamilton and his team faint hope that the title might still be his, but the youngster, appreciating that the best man had won the championship, admitted that he didn't want to win the title by default. As it happened, several agonising weeks after Brazil, the World Motor Sport Council found against McLaren and Raikkonen had his title.
The British media was in mourning, in its eyes Hamilton was the rightful champion, much to the frustration of Ferrari/Raikkonen fans in the UK.
Subsequently, golden boy's image took a slight knock when he announced late in 2007 that he was moving to Switzerland, complaining of public/media intrusion into his private life. It was several weeks before he admitted that the country's relaxed approach to tax was another key factor.
There is no arguing that Lewis is an amazing talent, however, in 2008 the pressure will be so much greater. In 2008, following the departure of Alonso to Renault, Hamilton, at just 23, is team leader at McLaren. Furthermore, he is no longer a rookie, having finished runner-up in 2007 he will be expected to match this, and then some, in 2008.
Having ticked all the boxes in his first season it will be interesting to see how he deals with things second time around, furthermore, if the MP4-23 isn't as good as its 2007 counterpart - in other words if he doesn't have one of the best cars out there - it will be interesting to see how he deals with that also.
Then again, there is the media. As we have seen so many times in the past, the great British media it feels it can build someone only to destroy him/her when it feels their time has come. For now, Lewis is the media's darling. However, should he fail to keep winning or if he is perceived as getting above his station then the media will do what it has done so many times before. It will happen, no matter how much Kevin Garside, Byron Young and Ed(ward) Gorman adore him today, eventually the love affair will end, the press will turn. How will Lewis deal with that sort of pressure?
If nothing else however, it is interesting that following the departure of Michael Schumacher, F1 didn't go into a slump, Lewis, along with Sebastian Vettel, Robert Kubica, Nico Rosberg and Heikki Kovalainen offer great hope for the years ahead. Great hope and some fantastic racing - providing Max stops tinkering.
Statistics - Prior to 2008 Season
Drivers' Titles: 0
Seasons in F1: 1
Grand Prix: 17
Wins: 4
Points: 109
Poles: 6
Fastest Laps: 2
Best result in 2007: 1st (4 times)
Best qualifying 2007: Pole (6 times)
Worst qualifying 2007: 10th (Europe)
Average grid position 2007: 2.59
2007: Out-qualified Fernando Alonso 10 times
2007: Out-qualified by Fernando Alonso 7 times
2007: Completed: 1037 out of 1065 laps (97.37%)
2007: Finished 16 times from 17 starts (94%)
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