Lewis Hamilton

Name: Lewis Hamilton

Nationality: Great Britain

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Once more a title contender in 2010, Lewis Hamilton enters his fifth Formula One season chasing what he hopes will be his second world championship.

Having recovered from what was a character-building, yet still fruitful, 2009 season, the 26-year-old Englishman led the standings twice last season after scoring wins in Turkey, Canada and Belgium.

Although Hamilton remained in the hunt until the very last race, crashes in Italy and Singapore lost him vital momentum. Even so, the McLaren star says he will not temper his trademark aggressive style - something his fans will doubtless be happy about.

Having raced remote-control cars when very young, Lewis started in karting in 1993 and rose to the Formula Super A category by 2001, winning the European title along the way.

He made the switch to cars late in 2001 but by then was already long-established as part of McLaren and Mercedes-Benz's Young Driver Support Programme.

The programme gave Hamilton unrivalled support in his quest to reach F1 but he still had to keep his side of the bargain - further repayment to his backers coming in 2003 when he captured the British Formula Renault Championship.

He progressed to the F3 Euroseries in 2004 and won the title the following year. His profile received a further boost in 2006 when he won the GP2 series at his first attempt.

Hamilton's achievements earned him a McLaren test drive, with team boss Ron Dennis then making the big decision to promote his protégé to a race seat alongside Fernando Alonso.

He immediately started to repay Dennis's faith by finishing third on his debut in Australia - literally becoming an overnight star in his home country.

That was just the beginning, though, and the rookie went on to record eight consecutive podium finishes, including race wins in Canada and the United States.

However, the blue touchpaper had already been lit on an explosive season within the McLaren camp, with Hamilton claiming in Monaco that he had not been allowed to race Alonso for the win.

He also won in Hungary but that race was overshadowed by Alonso's decision to deliberately block Hamilton in the pitlane during qualifying - a decision that saw the Spaniard penalised.

As it transpired, the subsequent breakdown in relations between Alonso and Dennis - the driver claiming his status as double world champion was not reflected in his treatment by the team - led to the emergence of emails sent by Alonso to test driver Pedro de la Rosa that helped confirm McLaren's guilt in the 'Spygate' saga.

As a result, they were fined US$100million and thrown out of that year's constructors' championship.

Back on track, Hamilton picked up three more points finishes and appeared set for an amazing title success after claiming his fourth win of the year in atrocious conditions in Japan.

His season then unravelled, however, with Hamilton spinning out of the Chinese Grand Prix after the team waited too long to pit him for wet tyres on a damp track.

Then, in Brazil, a disastrous opening lap and a gearbox problem meant he could only finish seventh, with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen ultimately taking the title by a single point.

With Alonso replaced by Heikki Kovalainen, Hamilton put his disappointment behind him with two wins and four podium finishes in the opening five races of the 2008 season.

A crash in the pit lane in Canada blotted his copybook but Hamilton hit back with a stunning drive in appalling conditions at Silverstone to win his home race.

Another win in Germany was followed by a string of five points finishes. However, Hamilton also picked up a string of penalties.

He was stripped of victory in the Belgian Grand Prix for illegally overtaking Raikkonen and was also penalised in Japan for pushing the Finn wide at the start of the race.

A lights-to-flag win in China followed though, meaning Hamilton needed to finish fifth in Brazil to take the title.

He ran fourth before a late rain shower at Interlagos brought a pit stop that pushed him down a place. However, with just two laps to go, Hamilton fell to sixth behind Sebastian Vettel.

Title rival Felipe Massa did all he needed to do by taking the chequered flag at Interlagos - and momentarily appeared to have upset the odds.

Incredibly, however, Hamilton passed the ailing Timo Glock at the last corner to take the title - the then 23-year-old F1's youngest world champion until Vettel's success last season.

His title defence was anything but stellar though, due largely to McLaren's failure to provide him with a winning car.

Hamilton qualified towards the back of the field for the season-opener in Melbourne but came through to finish third in the race.

Controversy ensued, though, after Hamilton was found to have deliberately misled race stewards over an incident that led to Jarno Trulli - who finished third on the track - being penalised for passing him behind the safety car.

Disqualification and a contrite apology followed. However, on track, matters were to worsen before they improved: Hamilton at times appearing to be hanging on to his ill-handling car for dear life.

Sheer hard work saw McLaren finally transform the MP4-24 into a race winner, with Hamilton finally taking the chequered flag in Hungary.

With a second win coming in Singapore, he remained there or thereabouts for the remainder of the season and with new world champion Jenson Button joining McLaren for 2010, an all-British 'dream team' inspired plenty of headlines.

And, despite some predictions, they were mainly positive, with Hamilton giving every indication of someone keen to work harmoniously with the newcomer.

However, it was Button who stole a march as Hamilton struggled early in the season - a third place in Bahrain and second behind his team-mate in China the best he could manage.

However as spring became summer, back-to-back wins in Turkey and then Canada catapulted Hamilton to the top of the standings.

He stayed there or thereabouts into September - a rare mechanical retirement in Hungary thrown into the mix alongside a third win in Belgium and second places in Great Britain and Valencia.

But his fortunes then took a nosedive and while his collision with Mark Webber in Singapore was generally deemed a 'racing incident', there was little doubt Hamilton was to blame for his collision with Felipe Massa on the opening lap at Monza.

Although Hamilton remained in contention until the final race in Abu Dhabi, the setbacks ultimately left him with too much ground to make up on his rivals.