21st Century Greats: Lewis Hamilton

A look at how a young boy from Stevenage worked hard to become one of the all time greats.

Over the course of the year, I will be posting biographies of 25 modern sporting greats to celebrate being a quarter way through the 21st Century. As usual, these posts will combine a summary of some of their sporting achievements mixed with my own memories of watching them. There is no order to the list, just a celebration of fantastic sportspeople.

21st Century Greats: Lewis Hamilton

“I don’t drive by the seat of my pants and happen to win races. I work very hard to interpret the data and drive a certain way.”

These words show Lewis Hamilton’s determination to win and to better himself over the course of his career by truly understanding how his car works. Due to this attitude he has helped to redefine much about his sport and in the process has truly become a 21st Century great.

He may be one of the elder statesmen of Formula 1 these days (he is the second oldest on the grid behind the evergreen Fernando Alonso) but his move to Ferrari for the 2025 season is sure to give him a new lease of life. He may be the sport’s most decorated driver ever but he has not won the title for five years now and if he won it this year he would be the third oldest champion ever, with only Farina and Fangio in the 1950s being more senior at their time of victory.

Hamilton will be encouraged by the positive end that his new team had to the last season when they came charging through the pack after a slow start alongside another resurgent team in McLaren. You would feel that there will likely be a renewed push from Red Bull also this year as they will not lie down easily. However, this is F1’s 75th year and Ferrari would be over the moon if they could win the drivers’ title for the first time in 18 years on such a special occasion.

Due to the battles between Hamilton and Max Verstappen, the rise of drivers like Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc and the continued success of the Drive to Survive documentary on Netflix, there are perhaps more eyes on F1 now than ever before. The fact that the end of last season was so unpredictable in terms of who could win each race makes the prospect of this season even more salivating.

Hamilton will certainly fancy his chances as he takes to the grid in Australia this weekend and he has the pedigree to back that up. This will be Hamilton’s 18th season in F1 and he has won the title on seven different occasions, a record held jointly with Michael Schumacher. He is undoubtedly the most successful driver of the 21st Century but has a case for being Britain’s best sportsman for the era across all sports. He is recognised across the world and is seen as a spokesman for different causes as well as being a fashion icon as well.

When Hamilton joined McLaren in 2007 he was feted as the next big thing (he had won the F3 Euro Series and the GP2 Series previously). The 22 year old was also, and remains, the only ever black man to compete in Formula 1 which is something that he has spoken of often himself. He is a beacon for diversity in sport and has described the challenges that he has faced coming through a sport whilst being ‘different’.

He certainly found his feet quickly and lived up to his billing, qualifying in 4th and finishing 3rd in his debut at the Australian Grand Prix. He went on to finish on the podium in each of his first 9 races which is an incredible feat for almost anyone, let alone a rookie. He pushed for the Drivers’ World Chanpionship the whole way but eventually lost out by a single point to Kimi Raikonnen who had switched McLaren for Ferrari that year, actually the last time a driver for the ‘The Prancing Horse’ won the title.

The following season Hamilton found himself embroiled in a title race with a Ferrari again but this time it was that of the Brazilian Felipe Massa. Hamilton put in some stellar performances across the season, including a win in the wet at the British Grand Prix that showed just how cool he could be under pressure, even at a young age. Massa kept Hamilton honest throughout, ensuring that he was not going to run away with a first World Championship.

In the last race of the season, in Massa’s home race in Brazil, Hamilton needed to finish at least fifth to take the title. Lewis only managed to qualify in fourth position and couldn’t really improve on this much throughout the course of the race. Rain right at the end threw another spanner in the works due to stops for new tyres, and Hamilton found himself going into the last lap in 6th with his rival clear for first. He spent the last lap battling with Sebastian Vettel but with only a couple of corners left, managed to overtake Timo Glock to get the fifth he needed to win the title by one point, the same margin he had lost by a year previously.

In winning, Hamilton became not only the first black F1 champion, but also the youngest ever, although this is record would soon be taken by Vettel. It was a landmark moment in the sport and one that would ensure Hamilton’s place in history, no matter what was to come next. Fortunately for him, this would not turn out to be his only taste of success.

It would be for a while though as, although Hamilton continued to secure race victories and podiums fairly consistently, his McLaren team lost some of their dominance and others such as Brawn (for one season) and Red Bull became the ones to beat. Lewis still competed, but had to watch on and wait for his second world title.

This is potentially the biggest period in his career where some came to question Hamilton’s overall standing as the greatest ever driver in that he wasn’t able to win the title when his car wasn’t clearly the best on the grid. There is an argument that Hamilton was just given immense cars to drive when he won titles whereas Michael Schumacher, for example, had to spend more time developing cars with his team. However, no one can deny the records that Hamilton has achieved over his career which clearly cement his status as one of the best ever.

In order to secure a second title, he realised that a move was necessary although the one he chose wasn’t necessarily one that everyone thought would be a huge success. Hamilton decided he was going to join a Mercedes team that hadn’t exactly been blowing the world away since returning in 2010. This is where Hamilton fans can counterbalance the argument above about always having the best car. The man himself knew there was a plan though and it very soon came together.

In his debut season for the team in 2013, Hamilton secured one victory and five podiums but a change in engine regulations for the following season, which would have been discussed and planned for well in advance and possibly even prior to his initial move, meant that Mercedes would soon have the upper hand. In the 2014 season, Hamilton won 11 races on his way to the championship, with his team winning 16 of the 19 races in total. They dominated from start to finish and set the tone for the years to come.

Dominance continued in 2015 where he beat his teammate Nico Rosberg to the title once again and had 10 wins and 17 podium places in the season to win the title again. It was clear that Hamilton was in far and away the best car, but he also had a hungry teammate who was capable of winning to deal with which meant that he still had to prove his mettle. Mercedes were happy to let the two fight freely amongst themselves in races and Rosberg finally won his first drivers’ title in 2016, relegating Hamilton to second place.

At this point though things changed slightly as Rosberg unexpectedly announced his retirement, finishing his career at the top of the sport. A new teammate was found in Valtteri Bottas but this meant that Hamilton was now the undisputed number one driver. There were challenges from a rejuvenated Ferrari team led by Sebastian Vettel, but Hamilton entered a period of dominance where he won four titles in a row between 2017 and 2020 to draw himself level with Schumacher for the most ever.

2021 was the first year in many where Hamilton and Mercedes were truly challenged by another team to the point where it looked like their time on top may end. Red Bull and Max Verstappen started the season red hot and stretched out an early lead. Hamilton improved as the season went on but their battle led to clashes on the track and a number of high profile incidents between the two drivers.

The pair, who didn’t hide their disdain for each other’s styles, actually collided three times throughout the course of the season but still managed to finish as a 1-2 combination 14 times. By the time the cars lined up for the final Grand Prix of the season in Abu Dhabi, Hamilton and Verstappen were level on points and a showstopper finish was promised.

That is exactly what the fans got in what will surely go down as the most dramatic ending to a season in history. Hamilton had led for most of the race but a late safety car allowed Verstappen, in second place, to pit for a new set of soft tyres. During the final lap before the safety car went in there was controversy when the back markers who were between Hamilton and Verstappen were ordered to go past the leader and the safety car to unlap themselves. This led to Verstappen being directly behind his rival with a lap to go and with his new set of tyres the result was never really in doubt. The Dutchman completed his overtake and won his first Drivers’ World Championship.

It was a contentious end to what had been a truly incredible season and a true fight not seen for quite a few years between two incredibly talented drivers. The controversy stemmed from the fact that although lapped cars were generally allowed to pass the safety car to unlap themselves before restarting, in this case it was only those who were between the two title rivals that were allowed to do so due to the lack of laps remaining. Mercedes can probably justifiably argue that this was unfair as it handed an advantage to their rivals but Red Bull can also say that under standard procedure, these cars would have been moved out of the way anyway, albeit with others as well.

Regardless, Verstappen came out on top and has dominated ever since. Only towards the end of last season did the Red Bull team come under any sustained pressure. The Dutchman was still victorious though and has now won four titles in a row. In the meantime, Mercedes endured a couple of torrid years and Hamilton has two successive seasons (2022 and 2023) where he didn’t achieve a single race victory. This added to the argument by those that said that he has only ever been as good as the car he has been given.

Hamilton did end his winless streak in 2024 by winning his ninth British Grand Prix (a joint record for most wins at one venue) but he had already announced that it would be his last season with Mercedes and that he would be joining Ferrari. Never one to shy away from controversy, Hamilton had decided that a new challenge was what he needed, and potentially a better car, in which to try and win one more title and confirm his place at the top of the all-time list.

Throughout his career so far, there is absolutely no question that Hamilton has excelled just as much as, if not more than, anyone else. The fact that he holds records for most ever wins, most ever poles and most ever podium finishes proves that he is an exceptional driver. He has shown fight and longevity to try and stay at the top and has been brave enough to make moves when things haven’t necessarily been going the way that he wants. He is a role model to many, he has been a voice for changes in perspective and has shown that hard work and dedication pay off.

Whether he will indeed win his eighth title to take the record of titles just for himself remains to be seen. Regardless of whether he does or not, he most definitely deserves his place in than list as an icon of his sport and of the 21st Century in general.

Notable Achievements:

7 World Titles - Joint record (Schumacher)

105 wins - Record

104 pole positions - Record

202 podiums - Record

67 fastest laps - 2nd behind Schumacher (77)

Formula 3 Euro Series champion

GP2 series champion