Born and raised in Stevenage, Hamilton began his career in karting aged six, winning several national titles and attracting the attention of Ron Dennis, who signed him to the McLaren-Mercedes Young Driver Programme in 1998.

The dominant Red Bull-Renault combination prevailed throughout his remaining four seasons at McLaren, with Hamilton achieving multiple race wins in each, including his involvement in a four-way title battle in 2010.

Hamilton has been credited with furthering Formula One's global following by appealing to a broader audience outside the sport, in part due to his high-profile lifestyle, amongst his environmental and social activism.

[52] Hamilton won the title in unusual circumstances, inheriting the final point he needed after Giorgio Pantano was stripped of fastest lap in the Monza feature race.

After a series of misfortunes in the latter half of the season, including strategical missteps by McLaren in the closing rounds and a retirement at the Chinese Grand Prix, Hamilton's 12-point advantage in the standings evanesced.

From that point onward, Hamilton advanced from eleventh to fifth in the standings and outscored the rest of the field, securing two race victories and three additional podium finishes across the remaining nine rounds.

[79] Whilst McLaren struggled to match the outright pace of Red Bull and Ferrari,[80] Hamilton engaged in a four-way title battle with Alonso, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber throughout the season.

[81] Hamilton's latter half of the season unravelled with a number of misfortunes, including race-ending collisions and mechanical failures, culminated in him losing vital points to his rivals, and ultimately, the championship lead.

[84] Hamilton finished fifth in the standings with three race wins; he secured the only non-Red Bull pole position of the season at the Korean Grand Prix, and vowed he would return to form.

[89] Prior to the end of the year, having denied multiple renegotiations with McLaren, Hamilton announced—to widespread surprise—that he would be joining Mercedes for the 2013 season, seeking a new challenge of elevating the team into world championship triumphs.

[90][96] Whilst Pirelli's switch in tyre construction contributed to his victory in Hungary, Hamilton and Mercedes endured a difficult latter half of the season, as he only managed to achieve one podium finish for the rest of the year.

[98] Following a run of five consecutive race victories towards the end of the season, Hamilton clinched his second World Drivers' Championship at the final round in Abu Dhabi, and declared it was "the greatest day of [his] life" over team radio.

After a crucial engine blowout in Malaysia, Hamilton secured a hat-trick of wins—including his 50th race victory in United States, and 100th podium finish in Japan—to enter the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, 12 points adrift of Rosberg.

[102] In Abu Dhabi, Hamilton defied team orders—deliberately slowing Rosberg into the chasing pack at the end of the race, in an unsuccessful bid to encourage other drivers to overtake his teammate.

[90] In 2018, whilst Ferrari once again held the upper hand,[109] Hamilton and Vettel engaged in a much closer battle for their fifth title—widely billed as the "Fight for Five"—they exchanged the championship lead several times until the half-way point of the season.

[122] Providing one of his greatest performances,[123] Hamilton clinched the title at the rain-affected Turkish Grand Prix with three rounds to spare, and ended the season 124 points ahead of second-placed Bottas.

Partnered by George Russell in place of the departing Bottas,[143] the 2022 season marked the first time in Hamilton's Formula One career that he did not secure a race win or a pole position.

Significant changes in technical regulations saw Hamilton and Mercedes endure a challenging campaign, as the innovative and radically different W13 car suffered with porpoising throughout the season,[144] leading him to deem it "undrivable" and causing him to sustain a back injury at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Mark Hughes, writing for the official Formula One website, described how Hamilton is "super-hard on the brakes ... but has a fantastic ability to match how quickly the downforce is bleeding off with his modulation of the pressure so that there's no wasted grip but no locked wheels either.

[195][196] Earlier in his career, Hamilton was criticised for being hot-headed at times, as demonstrated when he was disqualified in Imola in the GP2 Series for overtaking the safety car, something he went on to repeat four years later in Formula One at the 2010 European Grand Prix in Valencia.

[225] The next few seasons saw Hamilton eclipse a number of records, including achieving the most all-time pole positions ahead of Michael Schumacher, leading him to be regarded by some as the greatest qualifier in history.

[227][228] After winning his fourth and fifth world titles, Hamilton's place among the greats of the sport became firmly established in the opinions of experts, rivals, and teammates alike,[229][230][231] including among others Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz Jr.,[232] Felipe Massa,[233] Gerhard Berger,[234] and Ross Brawn.

[252] Other notable special designs include his rainbow helmet designs—used during the Qatar, Saudi Arabian and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix of 2021—in support of LGBTQ rights in the Middle East.

[260] British motorsport journal Autosport claimed that this "[led] Dennis to throw his headphones on the pit wall in disgust: a gesture that was misinterpreted by many to be in reaction to Alonso's pole";[261] however, McLaren later issued a statement on behalf of Hamilton that denied the use of any profanity.

[290] Shortly before the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix, a website owned by the Spanish branch of the New York-based advertising agency TBWA and named pinchalaruedadeHamilton, which translates into English as "burst Hamilton's tyre", was featured in the British media.

[320][321] As part of the U.S. national anthem protests, Hamilton took the knee before every Grand Prix he entered in 2020, in support of Black Lives Matter, and wore t-shirts promoting racial justice.

[348] He later announced his aim of being carbon neutral by the end of the year, explaining that he had mandated his office and household use recyclable items, sold his private jet, and planned to reduce his use of aircraft.

[432] Prior to the 2014 United States Grand Prix, Hamilton wore a gold-framed version of Warhol's Cars, Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Coupe painting hanging from a chain around his neck.

[455] Before the 2015 Monaco Grand Prix weekend, Hamilton signed a contract to stay with Mercedes until the end of the 2018 season in a deal reportedly worth more than £100 million over the three years, making him one of the best-paid drivers in Formula One.

[100] In the week leading up to the 2018 German Grand Prix, Hamilton signed a two-year contract with Mercedes, reported to be worth up to £40 million per year, making him the best-paid driver in the history of Formula One.