Lewis Hamilton eventually left karting in order to start car racing, his first championship was the 2001 British Formula Renault Winter Series. Hamilton started with pre-season testing, crashing his car in the progress. The Briton finished fifth in overall standings for the Winter Series, however. His mild success in the Winter Series got him a seat in the Formula Renault UK season in 2002, driving for Manor Motorsport.
Hamilton finished the season with three wins and three pole positions, landing him third in the driver’s championship. The following season, in 2003, he stayed with Manor Motorsport which resulted in him winning the championship. Hamilton secured ten wins that season along with 419 points, his championship rival Alex Lloyd only managed two wins and 377 points.
Hamilton missed out on the final two races of the season, after winning the championship, in order to make a début in the final round of the British Formula 3 Championship. Hamilton wasn’t so successful in this championship, retiring from the first race with a puncture and crashing out of the second race. The future F1 champion participated in the Macau Grand Prix and the Korea Super Prix, clinching pole position in the latter.
When questioned about a possible future move to Formula One, young Hamilton said that he didn’t want to be the youngest F1 driver but ‘to be experienced and then show what I can do in Formula One.’
In 2004, it was confirmed that the Williams Formula One Team had approached to sign the young Briton but couldn’t due to their engine supplier, BMW, saying that they would refuse to fund Hamilton’s career. The future prodigy did sign for the McLaren Formula One Team, but still raced in the 2004 Formula 3 Euro Series with Manor Motorsport. They clinched one victory throughout the season, securing Hamilton a solid fifth position in the driver’s championship. The Briton won the Bahrain F3 Superprix and was a driver in one of the Macau F3 Grand Prix.
Hamilton started testing for McLaren F1 towards the end of 2004 in the heart of Northampton, Silverstone.
Staying in the Euro Series, he made a switch to the reigning champion, ASM. He dominated the 2005 championship with his new team as he took victory in fifteen of the twenty rounds. It could’ve been sixteen for the youngster, but his win at Spa was rescinded due to a technical infringement.
Hamilton won the Marlboro Masters of Formula 3 in the Dutch hills of Zandvoort and was then featured in Autosport Magazine’s ‘Top 50 drivers of 2005’. The British magazine placed him in twenty-fourth place.
