Five impressive Lewis Hamilton F1 feats as world champion turns 40

Five impressive Lewis Hamilton F1 feats as world champion turns 40

7th January 2025 0 By Kamron Kent

Lewis Hamilton turns 40 today which ignites a new chapter in his Formula 1 career with Scuderia Ferrari, teaming up alongside Charles Leclerc, but what are some of his most impressive feats?

Feature image credit: Mercedes F1

Hamilton entered the sport in 2007 with McLaren and just missed out on his maiden world title by a single point that season. Since then, Hamilton has taken 105 race wins, 104 pole positions and visited the podium a staggering 202 times.

On the world champion’s 40th birthday, where he competed a total of 18 seasons at the highest level of single seaters, what have been five of his most impressive feats in Formula 1?

1. Impressive F1 Debut

Following a championship-winning GP2 season, in 2006, Hamilton made his debut with McLaren for the 2007 season and the then-rookie was partnered up alongside the reigning double world champion Fernando Alonso. Hamilton stamped his presence in the sport with an impressive fourth-place grid slot for the season opener.

Hamilton quickly laid down a marker, on what would turn out to be a very successful career in the sport, as he quickly overtook Alonso into turn one and securing a podium finish of third, behind Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Alonso.

2.THAT Singapore lap

Hamilton has put in some storming laps together in his lengthy F1 career. Over the 100 pole positions he has secured; one stands out amongst the fanbase, Singapore 2018.

The now-seven-time world champion was struggling in qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix, amongst his title battle against then-Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel. He narrowly missed out on a Q1 exit, finishing 14th in the order and only managed fourth-fastest in Q2.

However, in Q3, Hamilton described the lap as one of the ‘most complete laps’ he had ever done as he danced his Mercedes W9 under the lights at the Marina Bay circuit. The lap has been dubbed by some as one of the greatest laps to grace a racetrack.

3. First win

In his sixth race with McLaren in 2007, Hamilton was beginning to make a name of himself in the sport having appeared on the podium in the first five race weekends but never on the top step. However, this changed in Canada for the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix.

Hamilton went on to secure his first-ever pole position with a strong lap in qualifying and managed to hold off the advances of teammate Alonso into the opening corner. Despite four safety car interventions, Hamilton went on to secure his first of his many race wins in the sport.

4. Stunning and brave pole position in soaking conditions

Amongst the Coronavirus pandemic, Formula 1 was one of the first professional sports to return to our screens (since fans were not permitted in the grandstands and the global lockdowns). The second Austrian race weekend was a tricky one for the drivers to master on qualifying day as heavy rain poured on track, cancelling the final practice session.

Despite this, Hamilton and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen traded fastest laps as two of the best drivers on the grid in wet conditions. Although the conditions were treacherous, resulting in a spin for Verstappen, Hamilton braved the conditions and took pole by 1.2s over the Red Bull driver.

5. A centurion

Lewis Hamilton is arguably one of the greatest pilots of Formula 1 with over 100 wins and pole positions, a feat no driver has ever achieved in the sport’s 75-year history. In this feat, both occasions came during the intense title fight between Hamilton and Verstappen in 2021.

The 100th pole position was the first feat to be achieved by Hamilton at the 2021 Spanish Grand Prix where the Mercedes driver pipped his championship rival by 0.036s. The century of race wins was a hard-fought battle for the seven-time world champion as he struggled to achieve this but it was finally obtain at the 2021 Russian Grand Prix as the conditions changed from dry-to-wet, costing McLaren’s race leader Lando Norris his maiden win.

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Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

CategoryFormula 1 Formula Series News Opinion
TagsF1 Formula 1 Lewis Hamilton

About the author

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

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