The Drivers
More driver related content
Jenson Button
Lewis Hamilton
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Drivers
Jenson Button
Born 19/1/80, Frome, UK.
Jenson was barely 20 when he got his F1 break with the Williams team in 2000. His mixture of youthful enthusiasm, raw talent and pop star looks instantly endeared him to the public, but it was to be six years before he found himself in a car capable of winning grands prix.
After he finally took his memorable first win in the rain at Hungary in 2006, his Honda team took a wrong turn in technical development and Jenson endured two frustrating seasons before the Japanese manufacturer decided to withdraw from the sport altogether.
At that point the future looked bleak for Jenson, but the story of the Briton's 2009 season has all the qualities of a fairytale. After a last-ditch management buyout his team made it to the grid, thanks in part to an engine supply offered by Mercedes. Jenson won the first grand prix of the year from pole position and he went on to win six out of the first seven races before holding on for the glorious title that he had craved since he stepped into a kart 21 years earlier.
Declaring himself ready for a fresh challenge, Jenson immediately switched to the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team for the 2010 season. He duly continued his run of form with two early grand prix wins and was a challenger to retain his title for most of the season.
Lewis Hamilton
Born 7/1/85, Stevenage, UK
Some drivers get their opportunities through luck, others through hard work. Lewis Hamilton demonstrated his prodigious talents in karting but had to fight for every break. At the age of 10 he introduced himself to McLaren Group CEO Ron Dennis at the Autosport Awards, saying, "I'm going to drive for you one day."
Dennis admits that he was initially sceptical, but three years and several karting championships later, Lewis had done enough to earn a place on McLaren's coveted driver development program. The team supported him through international karting and into Formula 3, giving him a test in a McLaren F1 car at Silverstone in 2004.
Lewis continued to impress. In 2006 he won the GP2 Series at the first attempt, vividly demonstrating to the watching F1 team bosses that he was ready to step up.
He joined Vodafone McLaren Mercedes for the 2007 Formula 1 season in a blaze of publicity and his results instantly justified all the expectation: third in his debut grand prix, he finished on the podium 12 times (including four wins) and missed out on the drivers' title by a single point.
In 2008 he went one better, winning five grands prix – including the British Grand Prix at Silverstone and the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim – to become the youngest F1 World Champion ever.
2009 was a tougher year for McLaren but Lewis still managed to make the top of the podium, a feat he repeated in 2010 when he fought for the championship until missing out at the final race. Victory in the 2011 Chinese Grand Prix put Lewis in the unique position of winning races in each of his first five seasons in F1.
