Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born January 7, 1985 in Stevenage, Hertfordshire) is a British Formula One racing driver from England, currently racing for the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team.

He finished second in the 2007 Formula One Championship, behind Kimi Räikkönen. Hamilton has set numerous F1 rookie records and is the first black mixed race driver to compete in Formula One. After winning the British Formula Renault, European Formula Three and GP2 championship he became a McLaren F1 driver for 2007. When he was ten, he approached McLaren team principal, Ron Dennis at an awards ceremony and told him he would drive for McLaren one day; three years later, Hamilton was signed by McLaren and Mercedes-Benz to their Young Driver Support Programme, and ultimately, 12 years after this initial encounter, made his Formula One debut with the McLaren team. He has stated that he wants to stay in the McLaren team for the rest of his F1 career.