Lewis Hamilton goes into the German Grand Prix with 99 starts under his belt, just 1 away from 100.
So to celebrate this achievement, this article will look back at his career and explain my top 5 moments of Hamilton's career so far. Hamilton was thrown into the deep end at Mclaren in 2007, after a stunning GP2 season. He has become one of the most successful drivers of the modern era.
Lewis is known for his aggressive driving and stunning wet weather control, creating beautiful drive after beautiful drive. Here I count down my top 5 of his 99 Grand Prix's.
1) Brazilian Grand Prix 2008
Lewis Hamilton came into the last round of the season with the championship lead, but he had to maintain it. The race saw drama and tricky conditions which led to the race being delayed at the start. Massa looked dominant at the head of the field and eaked out a large lead. Further back Hamilton was fending off Sebastian Vettel but made a small mistake which enabled Vettel to go by. Through the tricky conditions, Hamilton kept a level head and stayed with Vettel.
Light rain fell and while the rest of the field turned into the pits for intermediate tyres, Timo Glock bravely stuck with his dry tyres. Hamilton needed to finish 5th at best to claim the title, but with a few laps to go he was running in 6th position. On the last lap, Massa took the chequered flag to win and momentarily take the championship win. The drama came with just a few corners to go, Glock was slow on his dry tyres. Hamilton passed him around the outside to take the title, ruining the hopes of Massa and his family. Lewis clinched the title, after losing out a year before, and became the youngest world champion at the time. One of Hamilton's finest moments, and one he will remember forever.
2) Australian Grand Prix 2007
This was the debut of all debuts. After stunning the F1 world with his GP2 championship, he got the coveted drive with Mclaren. It was unusual for a rookie to be picked up by such a big team, so expectations were low. Especially with his team mate being 2005 and 2006 champion Fernando Alonso.
It was impressive enough when he qualified in 4th position, even stunning me, but to finish where he did was unbelievable. After a slightly slow start, losing out to Robert Kubica, Hamilton took the outside line and bravely passed Kubica and Alonso to move into 3rd position. Lewis put in some consistent laps but being the number 2 driver, he was given the slightly less favourable strategy. Alonso made his way past, but it was one of the most stunning debuts I have ever seen. Taking 3rd place in his first race really was a moment to remember, for everyone.
3) British Grand Prix 2008
Lewis Hamilton was never really known as the master of wet weather, but this race proved everyone wrong. In his 2nd home race, the Brit clinched the win in the most dominant race of the season. Lewis lined up in 4th position, 3 places further back compared to 2007. However the start made his race. Finding grip on a slippery track, Hamilton disposed of Mark Webber and Kimi Raikkonen with ease and even ran front wing to rear tyre with team mate Kovalainen.
After overtaking Kovalainen, Hamilton started to put in some impressive times and lit up the timing screens. His pace was truly mind blowing, as he pulled out a size able gap. The rain began to fall heavier and heavier, with the extreme wet tyres being more favourable.
Despite a small off, Lewis managed to pull out an impressive gap to stabilise his position. As the chequered flag came out, Hamilton took his first home race win. Even more impressive was the fact that the 2nd place finisher was over 1 minute behind. That is why this is in the top 3, his dominance was just unbelievable.
4) Canadian Grand Prix 2007
Many expected Hamilton's first win to come pretty soon in his debut season, and that would prove to be true. Just 93 races ago, Lewis clinched his debut win at the Montreal circuit. It comes as no surprise that Hamilton adores the place, it holds special memories.
In a race littered with incident, Hamilton kept his head through 4 safety car periods, due to crashes involving Adrian Sutil and Robert Kubica. It was not only a proud moment for Team Hamilton, but also for Britain. The UK had a new hero. The dry race proved to be far from straight forward, but Lewis drove from pole position to win the race, 4 seconds ahead of Nich Heidfeld. The lead would of been far greater had the safety cars not intervened.
It was also a race for comparison, which was truly unusual. In a race where Hamilton excelled, his far more experiences team mate Alonso could not capitalise on his 2nd place on the grid and fell to 7th after a number of errors, shows experience isn't everything.
5) Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2011
2011 was a tough year for Hamilton, his car was not the fastest and the ever competitive Jenson Button out raced him on more occasions than he would have liked. However it all came together for the penultimate round of the season, where Lewis took a controlled win in front of his proud team and family, including his mother.
Sebastian Vettel had set the pace in qualifying, but a puncture at turn 2 ruined his race. Despite losing his head in earlier rounds, Hamilton took the lead and was untroubled, winning comfortably from Fernando Alonso. Whether he could of beat Vettel is another story, but it was the lift he need.. It was the way to close a difficult season, leading him to end the season on a positive.
What are your top 5 moments of Hamilton's career? Comment below or tweet me @JackLeslieF1 with the hashtag #JLF1
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| (c) Octane Photographic |
Lewis is known for his aggressive driving and stunning wet weather control, creating beautiful drive after beautiful drive. Here I count down my top 5 of his 99 Grand Prix's.
1) Brazilian Grand Prix 2008
Lewis Hamilton came into the last round of the season with the championship lead, but he had to maintain it. The race saw drama and tricky conditions which led to the race being delayed at the start. Massa looked dominant at the head of the field and eaked out a large lead. Further back Hamilton was fending off Sebastian Vettel but made a small mistake which enabled Vettel to go by. Through the tricky conditions, Hamilton kept a level head and stayed with Vettel.
Light rain fell and while the rest of the field turned into the pits for intermediate tyres, Timo Glock bravely stuck with his dry tyres. Hamilton needed to finish 5th at best to claim the title, but with a few laps to go he was running in 6th position. On the last lap, Massa took the chequered flag to win and momentarily take the championship win. The drama came with just a few corners to go, Glock was slow on his dry tyres. Hamilton passed him around the outside to take the title, ruining the hopes of Massa and his family. Lewis clinched the title, after losing out a year before, and became the youngest world champion at the time. One of Hamilton's finest moments, and one he will remember forever.
2) Australian Grand Prix 2007
This was the debut of all debuts. After stunning the F1 world with his GP2 championship, he got the coveted drive with Mclaren. It was unusual for a rookie to be picked up by such a big team, so expectations were low. Especially with his team mate being 2005 and 2006 champion Fernando Alonso.
3) British Grand Prix 2008
Lewis Hamilton was never really known as the master of wet weather, but this race proved everyone wrong. In his 2nd home race, the Brit clinched the win in the most dominant race of the season. Lewis lined up in 4th position, 3 places further back compared to 2007. However the start made his race. Finding grip on a slippery track, Hamilton disposed of Mark Webber and Kimi Raikkonen with ease and even ran front wing to rear tyre with team mate Kovalainen.
After overtaking Kovalainen, Hamilton started to put in some impressive times and lit up the timing screens. His pace was truly mind blowing, as he pulled out a size able gap. The rain began to fall heavier and heavier, with the extreme wet tyres being more favourable.
Despite a small off, Lewis managed to pull out an impressive gap to stabilise his position. As the chequered flag came out, Hamilton took his first home race win. Even more impressive was the fact that the 2nd place finisher was over 1 minute behind. That is why this is in the top 3, his dominance was just unbelievable.
4) Canadian Grand Prix 2007
Many expected Hamilton's first win to come pretty soon in his debut season, and that would prove to be true. Just 93 races ago, Lewis clinched his debut win at the Montreal circuit. It comes as no surprise that Hamilton adores the place, it holds special memories.
It was also a race for comparison, which was truly unusual. In a race where Hamilton excelled, his far more experiences team mate Alonso could not capitalise on his 2nd place on the grid and fell to 7th after a number of errors, shows experience isn't everything.
5) Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2011
2011 was a tough year for Hamilton, his car was not the fastest and the ever competitive Jenson Button out raced him on more occasions than he would have liked. However it all came together for the penultimate round of the season, where Lewis took a controlled win in front of his proud team and family, including his mother.
Sebastian Vettel had set the pace in qualifying, but a puncture at turn 2 ruined his race. Despite losing his head in earlier rounds, Hamilton took the lead and was untroubled, winning comfortably from Fernando Alonso. Whether he could of beat Vettel is another story, but it was the lift he need.. It was the way to close a difficult season, leading him to end the season on a positive.
What are your top 5 moments of Hamilton's career? Comment below or tweet me @JackLeslieF1 with the hashtag #JLF1
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