Michael Schumacher on Lewis Hamilton

"He's a quality driver, very strong and only 16. If he keeps this up I'm sure he will reach F1. It's something special to see a kid of his age out on the circuit. He's clearly got the right racing mentality."
—Michael Schumacher, speaking about Hamilton in 2001.



Hamilton's paternal grandparents emigrated to the United Kingdom from Grenada in the 1950s. His grandfather worked on the London Underground.[1] His mother, and father Anthony who named Lewis after the US Olympic gold medal winning athlete Carl Lewis,[2] separated when Lewis was two. Lewis grew up with his father, step-mother and half-brother[3] Nicholas who suffers from cerebral palsy . At six, he began his racing career when Anthony bought Lewis his first go-kart. He held down three jobs to support Lewis' career and still found enough time to attend all of Lewis' races.[3] When he was 11, Lewis approached Ron Dennis and told him, "I'm going to race for you one day...I'm going to race for McLaren" and was soon signed to McLaren's development programme.