Sir Lewis Hamilton is a British racing driver for Scuderia Ferrari and one of the most successful drivers in Formula 1 history, a seven-time World Drivers' Champion tied with Michael Schumacher for the all-time record. He was born on 7 January 1985 in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, and in 2007 became the first Black driver to race in Formula 1. ¹

A karting prodigy who was British cadet champion at ten, Hamilton famously approached McLaren boss Ron Dennis at the 1995 Autosport Awards to say he would one day drive for him. He was signed to the McLaren-Mercedes young driver programme in 1998 at the age of 13, an almost unheard-of commitment that set him on a direct path to Formula 1. ¹

“Through the end of 2025 his career records stood at 105 race wins, 104 pole positions and 202 podiums.”

Early career

Hamilton dominated the junior ladder, winning the 2003 Formula Renault UK title, the 2005 Formula 3 Euro Series with the ASM team, and the 2006 GP2 Series with ART Grand Prix. Both of those teams were run by Frédéric Vasseur, who would later bring Hamilton to Ferrari. ² McLaren promoted him straight to a race seat for 2007, and as a rookie he took multiple wins and lost the title by a single point. He won his first World Championship in 2008 with McLaren, clinching it by overtaking Timo Glock at the final corners of the final lap in Brazil. ¹

McLaren and Mercedes

Hamilton drove for McLaren from 2007 to 2012, winning 21 races, before a pivotal, much-doubted move to a then-midfield Mercedes in 2013, a gamble on the works team's potential under the incoming hybrid rules. The bet paid off spectacularly: he became the defining driver of F1's V6 hybrid era, winning titles in 2014, 2015 and four straight from 2017 to 2020, often after intense intra-team duels with Nico Rosberg, who beat him to the 2016 crown before retiring. He finished runner-up to Max Verstappen in the disputed 2021 Abu Dhabi finale, losing the lead on the last lap after a contested late safety-car restart. ¹ Along the way he equalled Schumacher's 91-win record at the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix and broke it a fortnight later at the Portuguese Grand Prix, and had already passed Schumacher's all-time pole record at Monza in 2017, ending up with the all-time records for both wins and poles. He was knighted in the 2021 New Year Honours, and added a wet-weather masterclass in Turkey in 2020 to clinch his record-equalling seventh title. ¹

Move to Ferrari

In a move that stunned the sport when Ferrari announced it on 1 February 2024, Hamilton joined the Scuderia for 2025, fulfilling a long-held ambition to drive for the most storied team in F1. He has said the switch "really wouldn't have happened without" Vasseur. ³ Through the end of 2025 his career records stood at 105 race wins, 104 pole positions and 202 podiums. ¹

2025 season

Hamilton's first year in red was the hardest of his career. He took a popular Sprint victory at the Chinese Grand Prix in March, qualifying on Sprint pole and dominating the 19-lap race by nearly seven seconds, his first win for Ferrari. ⁴ But the SF-25 never suited him over a Grand Prix distance: his best Sunday result was fourth at Imola, he finished sixth in the standings with 156 points, 86 behind Leclerc, and, for the first time in his Formula 1 career, scored no Grand Prix podium across a whole season, becoming the first full-time Ferrari driver in decades to go a year without a rostrum. He called the campaign "a nightmare," enduring a late-season slump that included three straight Q1 exits as he struggled to match the car's narrow operating window to his feel for the rear axle. ⁵

2026 season and the Barcelona breakthrough

Formula 1's new-for-2026 regulations gave Hamilton and Ferrari a fresh start with the SF-26, and the turnaround came at the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona-Catalunya, where Hamilton took his maiden Grand Prix win for Ferrari by nearly 20 seconds on a three-stop strategy, ahead of George Russell and Lando Norris in the first all-British podium since 1968. ⁶ At 41 it made him the oldest Grand Prix winner since Jack Brabham in 1970, and his 106th career victory, ending a drought stretching back to 2024. He had already taken podiums in China, Canada and Monaco earlier in the season as he adapted to the new cars, which he has described as the biggest regulation shift of his career. ⁶

Driving style and character

Hamilton is celebrated for his exceptional pace in mixed and wet conditions, exemplified by his title-clinching wet masterclass in Turkey in 2020, allied to strong tyre management and a formidable qualifying record. Off-track he is one of the sport's most globally recognisable figures: he launched the Hamilton Commission in 2020 to investigate the lack of Black representation in UK motorsport and the Mission 44 foundation in 2021 with a personal pledge of around twenty million pounds. ¹

Bottom line

Hamilton remains one of the greatest drivers the sport has produced, and after the bruising 2025 his Barcelona win in 2026 vindicated the gamble of moving to Ferrari. What this means for 2026: with the new regulations finally rewarding his and the team's reset, he and Ferrari are chasing the eighth title that would put him alone atop F1's all-time list. ⁶