Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver competing in Formula One, driving for Mercedes, and has also driven for McLaren. Hamilton has won a joint-record seven Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Michael Schumacher), and holds the records for most number of wins (103), pole positions (104), and podium finishes (197), among other records.
Born and raised in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, he began karting in 1993 at the age of eight and achieved success in local, national and international championships. Hamilton joined the inaugural McLaren-Mercedes Young Driver Programme in 1998, and progressed to win the 2003 British Formula Renault Championship, 2005 Formula 3 Euro Series and the 2006 GP2 Series. This led to a Formula One drive with McLaren-Mercedes from 2007 to 2012, making him the first black driver to race in the series. In his debut season, Hamilton set numerous records as he finished runner-up to Kimi Räikkönen by one point. In 2008, he won his maiden title in dramatic fashion—making a crucial overtake on the last lap of the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix, the last race of the season—to become the then-youngest ever Formula One World Champion. Following six seasons with McLaren, Hamilton signed with Mercedes in 2013.
Changes to the regulations for 2014 mandating the use of turbo-hybrid engines saw the start of a highly successful period for Hamilton, during which he won six further drivers' titles. Consecutive titles came in 2014 and 2015 during the intense Hamilton–Rosberg rivalry. Following teammate Rosberg's title win and retirement in 2016, Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel became Hamilton's closest rival in two championship battles, in which he twice overturned mid-season point deficits to claim consecutive titles again in 2017 and 2018. His third and fourth consecutive titles followed in 2019 and 2020 to equal Schumacher's record of seven drivers' titles. After surpassing 100 race wins and pole positions and finishing runner-up to Max Verstappen in 2021, Hamilton has not managed to win races during Formula One's current ground effect era with Mercedes. Hamilton is set to join Ferrari for the 2025 season.
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, environmental and social activism, and exploits in music and fashion. He has also become a prominent advocate in support of activism to combat racism and push for increased diversity in motorsport. Hamilton was listed in the 2020 issue of Time as one of the 100 most influential people globally (Time 100), and was knighted (Knight Bachelor) in the 2021 New Year Honours.
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