Road to Formula 1

He was born on 7 January 1985 in Stevenage, north of London. In six years of karting he won eight championships. In 1995, aged ten, he went up to Ron Dennis at the Autosport Awards and told him that one day he would race for McLaren; in 1998, at 13, McLaren and Mercedes took him under their wing, and he moved to Italy to race.

In 2003 he won British Formula Renault. In 2004 he spent his rookie season in the Formula 3 Euro Series, finishing fifth, and on 1 December 2004 he drove a Formula 1 car for the first time, at a McLaren test at Silverstone. In 2005 he won the Formula 3 Euro Series with Frédéric Vasseur’s ASM team, taking 15 wins from 20 races, and in 2006 he became GP2 champion with Vasseur’s ART: five wins and a 12-point margin over Nelson Piquet Jr after the Monza finale. McLaren then gave him a race seat for 2007 alongside the reigning champion Fernando Alonso.

McLaren: debut and a first title

He made his debut at the Australian Grand Prix on 18 March 2007, starting fourth and finishing third. He finished on the podium in the next four races as well. He took his first pole and first win at the Canadian Grand Prix on 10 June 2007, and a week later, on 17 June, won the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis — also from pole. In his rookie season he won four races and finished second in the championship: level on points with Alonso and one point behind the champion, Kimi Räikkönen.

He became World Champion on 2 November 2008 at the Brazilian Grand Prix: in the rain, at the last corner of the last lap, he passed Timo Glock, who was on dry tyres, finished fifth and beat Felipe Massa in the standings by a single point. At 23 years and 300 days he was the youngest champion at the time. He had opened that season with a win from pole in Australia on 16 March 2008, and on 6 July 2008 he won his home British Grand Prix for the first time. He raced for McLaren up to and including 2012; his last win for the team was the United States Grand Prix in Austin on 18 November 2012.

Mercedes: six titles

In 2013 he moved to Mercedes, replacing the retiring Michael Schumacher. His first win for the team came at the Hungarian Grand Prix on 28 July 2013. With the hybrid regulations of 2014 the team began to dominate, and his title-winning seasons were 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. In 2016 the title went to his team-mate Nico Rosberg by five points.

The 2020 title drew him level with Michael Schumacher on seven championships. He was knighted in the 2021 New Year Honours, and the Prince of Wales performed the ceremony at Windsor Castle on 15 December 2021. On 26 September 2021, at the Russian Grand Prix, he took his 100th win in the championship — the first driver ever to do so. He lost that season’s title to Max Verstappen on the last lap of the final race in Abu Dhabi.

In 2022 he went a whole season without a win for the first time in his career, and 2023 brought no wins either. On 7 July 2024 he won the British Grand Prix — his first victory since the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on 5 December 2021. His last win for Mercedes was the Belgian Grand Prix on 28 July 2024.

Ferrari

On 1 February 2024 Ferrari announced that Hamilton would join the team from the 2025 season on a multi-year contract; the same evening Mercedes confirmed that they would part ways at the end of 2024. His first race for Ferrari was the Australian Grand Prix on 16 March 2025, where he finished 10th. A week later in Shanghai, on 22 March 2025, he won the sprint from pole — the first sprint win both for him and for Ferrari; in the Sunday race on 23 March he was disqualified.

He finished the 2025 season without a single Grand Prix podium — for the first time in his career. His best result was fourth place, including at the British Grand Prix on 6 July 2025 and the United States Grand Prix on 19 October 2025.

2026 season

His Ferrari team-mate is Charles Leclerc. The season brings in new technical regulations: around half of the power unit’s output comes from the electrical side, the aerodynamics are active, and there are 11 teams in the championship. He finished fourth at the Australian Grand Prix on 8 March 2026, and on 15 March 2026 in Shanghai he took third place — his first Grand Prix podium for Ferrari. He finished second in Canada on 24 May and in Monaco on 7 June 2026.

On 14 June 2026 he won the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix from second on the grid — his first win for Ferrari and his first since the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix. The team chose a three-stop strategy, and he made the last stop under the virtual safety car. George Russell and Lando Norris joined him on the podium — the first all-British podium since 1968 — and at 41 he became the oldest Grand Prix winner since Jack Brabham in 1970. On 5 July 2026 he finished third at Silverstone, and he did not finish the Spanish Grand Prix at the new Madrid circuit on 13 September 2026.