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| Lewis Hamilton and his cadet kart (www.google.com) |
Lewis Hamilton's rise to Formula One was that of a fairy- tale.
He came from a modest, working class family, having a black father and a white mother, growing up in Stevenage.
He came from a modest, working class family, having a black father and a white mother, growing up in Stevenage.
Lewis began racing go-karts at the age of eight.
Funded by his father, unlike most main competitors who had the backing of sponsors - he went on too win championships at the age of eight and nine.
Hamilton spent time racing in Kent at these ages.
Racing time-after-time at Kent's main track, Buckmore Park, in Chatham.
It was at the age of ten that a future started to beckon for the prodigy.
It was then he met Ron Dennis, Mclaren CEO, who saw something special in Lewis.
He told Lewis that he would be in contact in ten years, after the youngster stated his desire to drive for Dennis in F1.
Lewis kept on winning, and kept on performing.
Year after year he would visit and dominate the Buckmore Park circuit which featured in his racing calender.
At 13 years old, Mclaren signed Hamilton up to their young drivers program.
The team went on too support his development through his karting career, before he moved on to lower formulas of racing like Formula Renault and F3, where he claimed titles.
It was now 2006 and he was 21 years old.
His rise from karting onwards had taken a step into GP2, the main form of racing before F1.
He entered the Gp2 championship as a rookie... and went on to win the championship.
It was then Mclaren made a decision.
2007 saw Lewis announced as a Mclaren F1 driver.
Most of the current F1 drivers started their careers in karts, but Hamilton seems to have retained more of the karting influence in his driving style than any of his rivals.
This is evident in the way that he is happy to allow his F1 car to step out of line on the exit of a corner, letting the rear of the car slide and then catching the skid in a moment.
The rise from karting has been that of a majestic one.
He had little money, yet plenty of passion and skill.
You can argue this, after he was signed and supported by McLaren at 13.
But to get to that point, he and his father came through with nothing short of hard work, passion and skill.
A true karting fairy-tale.
Lewis Hamilton is now an F1 World Champion, sporting icon and multi-millionaire.
Watch one of Lewis' finest performances at Kent's Buckmore Park. He came from last place to win, back in 1998:
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