Lewis the prodigy had arrived

Lewis Hamilton’s success in the 2006 GP2 championship where he was ho so impressive, coincided with a vacancy at McLaren-Mercedes following the departure of Juan Pablo Montoya to NASCAR and Kimi Raïkkonen to Ferrari.

Hamilton was given nearly 8000 km of testing in the McLaren MP-21 to acclimatise himself to Formula One, alongside test drivers Pedro de la Rosa and Gary Paffett. Ultimately, Hamilton, just 21 years old, was confirmed as the team’s second driver alongside Fernando Alonso.

After finishing third on his debut, Hamilton went on to set several records, including the most consecutive podium finishes from debut (9), the most wins in a debut season (4, shared with Jacques Villeneuve in 1996) and the most points in a debut season. History was in the making.