Nationality: British
Birthday: 7 January 1985
Current team: Ferrari
Previous teams: McLaren, Mercedes
Number: 44
Strengths: Racecraft, wet weather, focus, making tyres last
Weaknesses: Age, qualifying pace (since 2024), occasionally lacks motivation
Strongest tracks: Canada, China, Spain, Great Britain, Hungary
Weakest tracks: Monaco, Azerbaijan, Austria
Statistics
Grand Prix wins: 105
Pole Positions: 104
Fastest laps: 68
Podiums: 202
World Championships: 7
F1 teammate record H2H
Total Q record: 226-149
Total R record: 217-159
| Team mate | Q record | R record |
| Leclerc (2025) | 5-20 | 3-20 |
| Russell (2022-24) | 30-38 | 34-34 |
| Bottas (2017-21) | 71-26 | 74-25 |
| Rosberg (2013-16) | 42-34 | 44-33 |
| Button (2010-12) | 42-15 | 32-26 |
| Kovalainen (2008-09) | 26-9 | 23-11 |
| Alonso (2007) | 10-7 | 7-10 |
Pre-F1 championship results
Won GP2 (2006)
Won Formula 3 Euro Series (2005)
Won Formula Renault UK (2003)
Career analysis
Hamilton ranks as the statistically most successful Formula One driver of all time with his 105 wins and 7 championships. He has also faced a gauntlet of top drivers in Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, Nico Rosberg and George Russell – more often than not, coming out on top.
He almost won the world championship in his rookie year, but two disastrous final races proved to be crucial. He did win the title the following year, his only one with McLaren.
While Hamilton was instantly up to speed after he reached F1, the early part of his career did have some down years. 2011 was arguably his only unfocused season with several bad races and crashes that were down to his own doing. In 2012, he rebounded with a great performance, but team failures put a stop to his championship aspirations.
In 2013, he made what was probably the best decision of any driver in history by switching to Mercedes. While the first year was average in terms of results, the team produced a dominant car from 2014 to 2020, leading Lewis to 6 driver’s titles (only beaten in 2016 by teammate Rosberg) and almost winning another one in 2021 when the pace of the Mercedes was finally matched by another team.
In recent years, Hamilton has had much less success. Perhaps not down to his own efforts but rather because the Mercedes team that took a small step back compared to its main rivals. It should be noted that Hamilton has shown signs of regression as well, particularly in 2024, where teammate Russell finally got the upper hand, especially in qualifying.
After making the shift to Ferrari in 2025, Hamilton went on to have a difficult first campaign with the Scuderia, being way off the pace of teammate Charles Leclerc and not scoring a single podium all year long. With a more competitive car and a new race engineer in 2026, Hamilton actually has a good shot at winning some more Grands Prix, but the question remains – is he still capable of those excellent performances that defined him when he was younger?
