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 Lewis Hamilton 

Hamilton was born on 7 January 1985 in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England. His father, Anthony Hamilton, is black while his mother, Carmen Arbalester, is white, making him a mixed race; Hamilton has identified as black, Hamilton's parents separated when he was two, after which he lived with his mother and older half-sisters, Samantha, and Nicola, until he was twelve, Hamilton then lived with his stepmother, Linda, and his half-brother Nicolas, who is also a professional racing driver. Hamilton was raised a Catholic.

Hamilton's dad got him a radio-controlled vehicle when he was five. Hamilton finished second in the national BRCA championship the following year against adult competition Being the only black child racing at his club, Hamilton was subjected to racist abuse. Hamilton's father bought him a go kart for Christmas when he was six and promised to support his racing career if he worked hard at school.

To support his son, Hamilton's father took redundancy from his position as an IT manager and became a contractor – sometimes working up to four jobs at a time including employment as a double glazing salesman, dishwasher and putting up signs for estate agents, while still attending his son's races. Hamilton's father later set up his own IT company. He continued to be Hamilton's manager until early 2010, Hamilton was educated at the john henry Newman school a voluntary aided Catholic secondary school in Stevenage, At the age of five, Hamilton took up karate to defend himself because of bullying at school. In addition to racing, he played association football for his school team with eventual England international Ashley young. Hamilton, an Arsenal fan, said that if Formula One had not worked for him he would have been a footballer or a cricketer, having played both for his school teams.]In February 2001 he began studies at Cambridge Arts and Sciences, a private sixth form college in Cambridge, Hamilton began karting in 1993 and quickly began winning races and cadet class championships, Hamilton began karting in 1993 and quickly began winning races and cadet class championships. Two years later, he became the youngest driver to win the British cadet karting championship at the age of ten. That year, Hamilton approached McLaren Formula One team boss Ron Dennis at the Autosport awards for an autograph and said, "Hi. I am Lewis Hamilton. I won the British Championship and one day I want to be racing your cars.” Dennis wrote in Hamilton's autograph book, "Phone me in nine years, we'll sort something out then." When Hamilton was 12, Ladbrokes took a bet, at 40/1 odds, that Hamilton would win a Formula One race before the age of 23; another predicted, at 150/1 odds, that he would win the World Drivers' Championship before he was 25. In 1998, Dennis called Hamilton following his second Super One series and British championship wins, to offer Hamilton a role in the McLaren driver development program. The contract included an option of a future Formula One seat, which would make Hamilton the most youthful driver to make sure about an agreement which later brought about a Formula One drive Hamilton proceeded with his advancement in the intercontinental (1999), Formula A (2000) and Formula Super A (2001) ranks and became European Champion in 2000 with maximum points. In Formula an and Formula Super A, racing for Team MBM, his partner was Nico Rosberg, who might later drive for the Williams and Mercedes groups in Formula One; they would later collaborate again for Mercedes from 2013 to 2016. Following his karting triumphs, the British dashing drivers club made him a "Rising Star" Member in 2000. In 2001, Michael Schumacher made an erratic re-visitation of karts and went up against Hamilton alongside other future Formula One drivers vitantonio luizi and Nico Rosberg. Hamilton finished the last in seventh, four places behind Schumacher. Even though the two saw little of one another on the track, Schumacher lauded the youthful Briton.