Lewis Hamilton is a four-time Formula One World Champion and a current driver for the Mercedes AMG Petronas team. Hamilton made his debut in Formula One in 2007 with the McLaren F1 Team. In his rookie season, he was the runner-up in the World Championship losing by a single point. In his next season, Hamilton won his first World Championship — this time winning by just a single point. Since then, Hamilton has moved to the Mercedes AMG Petronas team, has won another three World Championships and has become the most successful British driver in history.
Lewis Hamilton Net Worth As Of 2018: $260 Million
Having won three of the last four Drivers’ World Championships, Hamilton has the success and talent to back up his earnings. Between 2016-18 he is set to receive almost $50 million per year.
Karting Years 1993-2000
Lewis Hamilton started driving karts at age 8 in 1993. In 1995, Hamilton won his first championship, the British Karting Championship in the Cadet Class. The next year, he won the Champions of the Future series, a well as taking home the Sky TV KartMasters and Five Nations Championship in the Cadet Class. He repeated his British Karting Championship title for the next two seasons and in 1998 won the European and World Karting Championships. He is crowned World Karting Number One at 15 years old, becoming the youngest driver to do so. At the end of his 1998 season, Hamilton signs with McLaren’s Young Driver Support Program.
Early Professional Career 2001-2006
Hamilton got his start in the 2001 British Formula Renault Winter Series. He finished the series fifth overall, leading to a spot on the Manor Motorsport team for the 2002 Formula Renault UK series, finishing third overall. He remained with Manor Motorsport for 2003, this time taking home the title as 2003 Formula Renault UK Champion. He also made his Formula Three debut in the series’ last race. The following year, Hamilton competed full time in the 2004 Formula 3 Euro Series with Manor Motorsport. During the season, he got his first taste of a Formula 1 car having tested for McLaren at Silverstone. He would finish the 2004 season in fifth place, and move to reigning champions ASM for the following season. With ASM for 2005, Hamilton dominated the Formula 3 Championship, winning 15 of the 20 rounds. His success in Formula 3, provided him with a seat on the ART Grand Prix team in GP2 for 2006. Just like his previous season in Formula 3, Hamilton dominated the championship. With spots now available on McLaren’s Formula One team following the 2006 season, the announcement was made the Hamilton would be joining defending double Formula One World Champion Fernando Alonso as McLaren’s second driver in the 2007 Formula One Championship.
McLaren Years 2007-2012
In just his debut season, Hamilton finished second in the Drivers’ World Championship, losing by just one point to Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen. Along the way, he set multiple records to make his season even more memorable. He set the record for most points in a debut season with 109, the most podiums from a debut with nine and tied for most wins in a debut season with four. Hamilton took the success in his rookie season and only got better as he won his first Drivers’ World Championship in the following season. Although, this time he won by just a single point over Ferrari’s Felipe Masa. As exciting as his first two seasons were with McLaren, he finished no higher than fourth in the Drivers’ Standings over the next four years. At the end of his 2012 season, he announced that he would be moving to moving to the Mercedes AMG Petronas team.
Mercedes Years 2013-Present
In his first season with Mercedes, Hamilton again finished fourth in the Drivers’ Standings. With new engine rules for 2014, Mercedes AMG Petronas found success immediately. Hamilton dominated his teammate Nico Rosberg and the rest of the competition to take home his second World Championship without much of a fight. He had a repeat success the following season and held his title as World Champion. 2016 proved more difficult however as his teammate Rosberg fought until the end and ultimately took the championship from Hamilton. Following Rosberg’s surprise retirement at the end of 2016, Hamilton was back to his winning ways in 2017 once again taking home the Drivers’ World Championship. In the 2018 season opener in Australia on March 25, Hamilton placed second behind Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton will look to bounce back in Abu Dhabi this weekend and take home his first win of the season.
