Widely celebrated as one of the greatest Formula One drivers of all-time (F1), Lewis Hamilton turns 35 on January 07, 2019 (Tuesday). Hamilton, who with six F1 World Championships holds the record second-most F1 titles, was born on this day in 1985 to Anthony and Carmen Hamilton. A 6-year-old Hamilton was gifted a radio-controlled car by his father drawing the young kid’s attention towards car racing. Hamilton finished second in the national BRCA championship in 1992 and started to completely focus on racing after his father promised to support his son’s dream to become a car racer.

Hamilton was 13 when McLaren signed him up in the driver development programme, making Hamilton the youngest driver ever to secure a contract with a professional F1 racing company. Hamilton started racing for McLaren in 2007 as a partner for then defending World Champion Fernando Alonso. The young Brit finished as runner-up in the World Drivers’ Championship to Kimi Raikkonen by 1 point and created records for most consecutive podium finishes from debut (9), joint-most wins in a debut season (4) and most points accumulated in a debut season (109). Lewis Hamilton Clinches 6th F1 World Championship Title.

  1.  Lewis Carl Hamilton was born on January 7, 1985, in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England

  2. Hamilton learnt karate to defend himself from bullying at school

  3. Lewis Hamilton as a youngster represented john Henry Newman school in a football competition alongside Ashley Young, a Manchester United and England national footballer

  4. Hamilton is the only driver in the history of F1 to have won at least one race in each season he has competed to date

  5. Lewis Hamilton with 6 world championship titles has won the second-most championships in F1 history

  6. At 13 years of age, Hamilton was signed up by McLaren making him the youngest driver to be contracted by an F1 team

  7. In 2008, Lewis Hamilton became the youngest Formula One World Champion in F1's history before Sebastian Vettel broke the record

  8. Lewis Hamilton holds the record for most career points (3431), most points in a season (413) and most grand slams (3) in a single season

Hamilton clinched his first Formula One (F1) World Championship title in 2008 in dramatic fashion after beating Felipe Massa by a solitary point. He turnaround the fierce contest with Massa on the last corner of the last lap in the final race of the season to clinch his maiden World title. Hamilton, then 22, became the youngest F1 World Champion and the first British driver to win the title since Damon Hill in 1996 and held the record before Sebastian Vettel broke it two years later.

Since then the Brit has won five more World titles and has stamped his name in the rich legacy of Formula One history. He holds multiple records to his name, including most career points (3431), most points in a single season and most Grand Slam wins in a single season.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 07, 2020 10:13 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).