Lewis Carl Hamilton (born January 7, 1985 in Stevenage, Hertfordshire) is a British Formula One driver. Hamilton started racing karts at the age of eight. When he was nine, he approached McLaren team owner Ron Dennis at an awards ceremony and told him he would drive for McLaren one day; four years later, Hamilton was signed to the McLaren driver development support programme. Hamilton became European karting champion in 2000 with maximum points and made a successful transition to racing cars the following year.

He progressed through the junior formulae, achieving titles in British Formula Renault, European Formula Three and GP2. He was appointed as a Formula One driver for McLaren in 2007. In his first season in the top international single seater category he became the first rookie driver to lead the world championship, finishing on the podium in his first nine races and winning three times by two-thirds of the way through the season.