F1: What Lewis Hamilton Did To Become Formula One Racer

Lewis Hamilton did something unique when he was trying to enter the world of Formula One.

Like any other sports legends, Hamilton also started from humble beginnings. Some racing fans might not know, Hamilton started his racing career operating motor controlled cars at a young age, Race Fans noted.

“I was racing these remote-controlled cars and winning club championships against adults,” Hamilton recalled.

After winning national championships, he stepped his game up moved on to karting. During his karting days, the F1 icon managed to win multiple championships as well.

But what paved Hamilton’s way to Formula One was when he introduced himself to McLaren team boss Ron Dennis at an award ceremony in 1995. In the said event, a 9-year-old Hamilton presented himself to Dennis and asked for his autograph after saying, “Hi. I’m Lewis Hamilton. I won the British championship and one day I want to be racing your cars.”

At that point in time, the young Hamilton has no idea that it would earn him the patronage and support of one of the top Formula One teams in the world. After 13 years, it led Hamilton into an F1 drive.

After several success in karting, Hamilton met with Dennis for the first time. During the meeting, Dennis had written in Hamilton’s autograph book, “Phone me in nine years, we’ll sort something out then.”

In 1998, Hamilton was officially signed to the McLaren Driver Development Support programme. He was the youngest such driver to have been contracted by an F1 team at 13 years old. The contract guaranteed financial and technical support and even included a future option for entry into Formula One.

In 2001, he finally crossed paths with F1 legend Michael Schumacher. Hamilton finished behind the Ferrari star, who by then had four world championships to his name. From that point forward, Hamilton continued to seal victories in F1 and the rest is history.

Hamilton’s run in F1 since 2014 has been unparalleled. As noted by TalkSport, Hamilton put up unbelievable stats in the last six years.

“Everyone else is his win percentage over those six years. Hamilton has won 52.8 percent of all the F1 races since 2014 while Mercedes have won more than 75 percent of races during that time,” the report said.

To sum it all up, Hamilton has 243 races, 87 pole positions, 81 victories, 5 championships, 146 podiums, achieved the fastest lap 44 times and has 3,302 career points across his name.