In September 2006 Lewis Hamilton won the GP2 title, the F1 feeder series.

In November 2006 it was announced that Lewis Hamilton would drive for McLaren in F1 in the 2007 season.

Hamilton became the first black driver to race in Formula 1 and in the opening Grand Prix of 2007 - the Australian Grand Prix - Lewis Hamilton made an impressive start to his Formula One career, finishing in third place.

In his next two races, Bahrain and Malaysia, Hamilton came second and thus became the first man to take podiums in his first three Grands Prix.

With Lewis Hamilton's fourth race the story got even better. He came second in the Spanish Grand Prix, thereby securing the outright championship lead.

The fairy tale continued for Lewis Hamilton when on June 10, 2007 he won the Canadian Grand Prix. It was just his sixth Formula One race.

In his very next race, the United States Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton won again.

Lewis Hamilton became only the fourth driver in their debut F1 season to win at least two races. The others were Jacques Villeneuve, Nino Farina and Juan Manuel Fangio.

Lewis Hamilton's amazing first season in Formula 1 continued, however it ended in disappointment after he finished only seventh in the last race of the season, the Brazilian Grand Prix, that saw him lose his championship lead to end up second to Kimi Raikkonen in the drivers' championship.

The Official Formula One site shows Lewis Hamilton's full driving record for 2007.

Hamilton started young. At just six he was featured on Blue Peter in charge of a remote controlled car. At 10 Lewis Hamilton won his first British Kart championship.

Lewis Hamilton has won every series in motor sport that he has entered.

Before the decision had been made to give him his break at F1, Hamilton told the Telegraph: "Being the first black man doesn't matter much to me personally, but for the sport itself it probably means quite a lot."

Lewis Hamilton has been with McLaren-Mercedes since he was a youngster, and their profile of their young star lists his motor sports achievements to date.

Lewis Hamilton's official website has this excellent quote from Norbert Haug of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport after he had secured the GP2 title:

"This is the greatest day in Lewis's career so far and after Formula Renault and the Formula 3 Euro Series the third important Championship he has won in the last four years at the age of 21. We have known Lewis since he was a little boy and Ron [Dennis] had the idea that both McLaren and Mercedes should support his racing programme starting with karting nine years ago. Since then Lewis has become a real part of the family ..."

In March 2008, Lewis Hamilton started his second F1 season in fine fashion with victory at the Australian Grand Prix.