Lewis Hamilton’s career in video (Part 1)

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Lewis Hamilton has lost his crown to Jenson Button

In his final video retrospective of the season, F1 Fanatic guest writer Journeyer looks at the career of outgoing world champion Lewis Hamilton.

Although Jenson Button has clinched the title in Brazil, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will technically be Lewis Hamilton’s last race as the reigning world champion. It must feel slightly odd for Lewis not to be the most noticed Briton on the grid this year, but after all the events this year, perhaps he doesn’t mind too much.

In contrast to Button’s climb to F1, Hamilton has seen success at almost all levels of motorsport. He has clinched multiple titles, and we’ll take a look at each of them in this look back at Hamilton’s career.

1996: Here’s the first TV coverage of Lewis Hamilton. Indeed, here he is racing in the Karting Cadet class as part of the Champions of the Future series. Even this early on, ITV showed a lot of love for Hamilton – note the helmet graphic they use as they show the final results.

1997: Hamilton’s meteoric rise (in conjunction with his race) meant he was easily noticed. Already, the BBC featured him as part of its Black Britain series that year. Note that Ron Dennis is already mentioned and interviewed this early on in his career in this video (not embeddable).

1998: Hamilton moved up yet another kart class, this time to Formula Junior Intercontinental. He wins his first ever final (race) in the class, but narrowly misses out on the title.

I love the bit at 0:28 – “Hero: Ayrton Senna”

2005: Lewis then spent a couple of years in Formula Renault UK, winning that title in 2003. Then it was onwards and upwards to the F3 Euroseries. After finishing 5th overall in his debut season with Manor Motorsport, he moved to ASM to team up with Adrian Sutil. He duly dominated the season, and with Sutil, ASM dominated the championship.

Here’s some video from the first race of that season in Hockenheim.

2006: It was time to move up another step, and Hamilton moved to GP2 with Nicolas Todt’s ART squad. He was locked in a title battle with Nelson Piquet Jnr, and he made sure he’d come through as the champ. Here was a gutsy pass Lewis pulled off on Piquet and Clivio Piccione at Maggotts in Silverstone.

But his most memorable race in the junior formulae was at the Istanbul sprint race, where he made an early mistake. He fell to the back, but overtook almost the entire field to finish second. This and other remarkable performances allowed him to clinch the title at his first and only attempt.

With the sudden departure of Juan Pablo Montoya, it meant there was a free seat for Lewis at McLaren in 2007. We’ll take a look at his F1 career to date tomorrow.

Read more: Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton – how Britain’s world champions compare

44 comments on “Lewis Hamilton’s career in video (Part 1)”

  1. The one I’ve been waiting for – I shall save these and watch for later. Thanks.

    1. Happy for you S Hughes. Even if I don’t particularly like Ham there us no denying his talent. Love seeing drivers back. When they were in karts.
      Quick question, I only found this site about June, has there been a profile like this on Felipe and/or Fernando?

      1. Mouse_Nightshirt
        29th October 2009, 18:26

        I think yes. Felipe definitely.

      2. Here’s Massa’s https://www.racefans.net/2009/06/04/felipe-massas-f1-career-in-video/

        Not sure if the videos still work, I didn’t check. Fingers crossed they do :)

        1. Thanks loads! :) And most of videos work!!!

  2. I imagine this is the highlight of your year..

  3. bobo_the_legend
    29th October 2009, 17:23

    Great videos of lewis
    Turkey gp2 wat a race amazing !!

  4. Shame about the music on the last one, but really interesting videos!

  5. The best part of all these videos is Anthony Hamilton’s ubiquitous finger slapping when Hamilton passed Piquet Jr. (video #4)

  6. StrFerrari4Ever
    29th October 2009, 18:01

    I’m not a fan of Hamilton(even though I’m black and should support him) but his talent is amazing that GP2 Turkey race was out of this world.
    The moves he pulled off were stunning Kudo’s to Glock aswell showed his a real fighter only if F1 racing was as close as that hopefully 2010 is different!

  7. Another great article Journeyer. Well done!!

    The last video was testament to just how damn good Lewis Hamilton is. I’m also not a card carrying member of his fan club but I certainly enjoy watching the man drive. He was a worthy world champion and I’d happily venture to say that he’ll win another!!

  8. He always promises the best excitement. That’s why I support him.

  9. Lewis against Vettel in F3:

      1. Nice video. Thanks Becken, I haven’t seen that one before.

      2. Great site Becken, hadn’t visited it before, parabens!

  10. Good videos but i still think Alonso is the best driver out there because he did beat Schumacher twice. Hamilton has only won alot recently because Alonso was in a crappy car in 2008-09. Expect loads of points being taken away from Hamilton next year from Alonso now he is in Ferrari.

    Best Drivers.

    1st:Alonso
    2nd:Hamilton/Vettel
    3rd:Massa:Remember who was infront before he got injured
    4th:Kimi

    1. How can Alonso be better if Hamilton repeatedly out performed him, in his debut season, when Teflonso had several yeras experience already?

      LH will be a legend and multiple champion, basically winning championship at first attempt is not normal, neither is getting pole and wins this year in a significantly slower car.

      I am always baffled by cool reactions to LH, he seems like a great guy to me, as well as an excllent talent and an exciting brave racer, almost the only one in F1.

    2. While I would probably rate Alonso the best all round driver in F1 at the moment, you seem to forget about 2007 when the then reigning double World Champion Alonso and rookie Hamilton had the same cars and ended up with the same points and wins.

      Also if you are not counting 2008-09 because Alonso was in a bad car then what about when Alonso beat Schumacher in 2005 when Schumacher had an uncompetitive car, his only victory that season was at the farce that was the 6 car US GP.

  11. You can just tell when the greats are comming through the junior series. They just seems to drift through.
    If a driver in the same car can overtake an entire feild of racers, then you know theres something special.

    Nico Hulkenburg seems to have done it.

  12. Paul Sainsbury
    29th October 2009, 20:09

    There are two things I observe from these videos and in particular the comments:

    1: Hopefully we can finally say goodbye to anyone saying he has ‘yet to prove himself’ and all that nonsense.

    2: How strange that nearly everyone posting makes a point of the fact that they are ‘not a fan’ even though they appreciate his talent. I wonder why that is? He always seems to me like a really decent bloke and very well-balanced for someone with so much success so young………So, for what it is worth, I appreciate his talent and I am not afraid to say I am a BIG FAN!…….:)

    1. I suppose (coming from a non-fan of Hamilton) it is just personal taste. We only get glimpses from media and all come to our own conclusions.
      I’m trying to be diplomatic as there tends to be a see saw of love or hate Hamilton ! :P

      1. Hamilton’s been at his worst (Australia) and at his best (Hungary, Italy, who cares that he didn’t finish) this year, a character building 2009 which he really needed. He seems a lot more likeable in the latter half of this year compared to the last two seasons.

    2. I guess like Steph said, it’s just personal preference. I for one am not an Alonso fan, despite the fact he is one of the best drivers on the grid and seems like a nice funny guy (taking the Alonso vs Hamilton thing aside).

      I am, like you, a BIG FAN of Hamilton though, and hopefully I’ll see him next weekend at the Mercedes live event :)

    3. Well said Paul. Kudos to us BIG FANS who appreciate talent and nice decent guys like Lewis.

  13. how do you figure alonso is better than hamilton? 07 they had the exact same cars and hamilton mostly crushed him if it wasn’t for the european gp and china.

    1. i know what you mean! there is no evedence to say that alonso way better than hamilton.

      2007 was the most fair comparison ever, two driver same car!

    2. And Lewis was a rookie!

      1. next year wth fernando in a ferrari and lewis in the mclaren wont be as fair because the cars will be different! 07′ the cars were identical (none of this mclaren sabotaged alonso nonsence please)

  14. @ Scribe. Yeah, I’m also excited to see what Nico Hulkenberg can produce next year.

  15. First video 1996 Karting Cadet class – wow how exciting. I wish F1 had such exciting overtaking. What clever racing and defending from Lewis. What a cutie as well when he speaks. Aaaaaah.

  16. Interesting comment from Marcus… deciding to forget all about 2007 when Hamilton beat Alonso in the championship. In the same machinery. As a rookie.

  17. Istanbul 2006, that’s the day I became a believer.
    He’s special, and I reckon the best is still to come.
    Nice to see the Senna/Mansell/Montoya spirit back in F1.
    Thanks for the vids Keith, nice one.
    Is Abu Dhabi gonna be in HD on Speed??

    1. It is shown on SPEED-HD but just upscaled and widescreen. Not true HD. Bernie doesn’t want to pay for that.

  18. Also, I think this year will have taught him a lot, in al areas, adversity is a great teacher, he is gonna kick some serious be hind when he gets a proper car.

    Also, he didnt even know the circuits and the whole F1 thang before, now hes settled, stronger, wiser, all his doubters will eat their words.

  19. I was in Turkey watching the GP2 race at that infamous corner, and I have never seen a drive like Hamilton did that day. It was unbelievable and everybody watching knew he was a star…the next year he proved it. It reminded me of Senna in Japan 1988 and also at Donnington in 1993. Despite all hamilton’s critics the one thing he can do and does do is pass cars…and there is no one on the grid that has that skill in such abundance (e.g. vettel). This is the race that made me Ham fan!

    Great post…can’t wait for the next part. I found myself clapping and whooping at the end of watching the GP2 vid…it has made my day :-)

    1. If it was not for Timo, Lewis would have won that race:

      You can rewatch it in full here:

      http://www.megavideo.com/?v=MVH3G8AD

  20. wicked! what a boy. big smiles now.

  21. HounslowBusGarage
    30th October 2009, 12:29

    It really doesn’t matter if you count yourself a ‘fan’ or not, the man has incredible talent not just in driving fast, but in passing other drivers as well.

  22. damn posting my orginal screwed up on this website i will have to make this quick dont take to heart it was alot bigger and I explained it alot more:

    07 not fair since both Alonso and Hamilton were at each others throats so they were not driving 100%.

    Lewis done as well as Alonso because he gave lewis his settings.

    Alonso underestimated Lewis blah blah was under more pressue in 2007 but still drawed with him.

    Lewis i think wont do well in 2010 season with tyre wear and heavy fuel loads.

    Alonso has dealt with heavy fuel loads for 2 years with Renault in the past seasons.

    Ferrari are good helping other drivers deal with tyrewear.

    Lewis goes through more tyres then i go through hot dinners. And always goes for the light fuel load because he is mostly upfront.

    Alonso a more stable driver through the season then Lewis.

    Im not biased im a Vettel fan and english so cant you accuse me.

    Alonso should win 2010 because he wont be paranoid with a italian team favoring a italian driver.

    Lewis has never won a world title with Alonso being in a decent car.

    i think thats it…

    1. You are a Troll and that kind of cheap ones…

  23. always starting from karting :)

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