Long-time McLaren Mercedes protégé Lewis Hamilton joined the Formula One grid in 2007 alongside double World Champion Fernando Alonso. The British racer, who first met McLaren boss Ron Dennis aged ten at the Autosport Awards ceremony, got the nod for the his debut on the back of his impressive GP2 campaign in which he won the title in his first season.

Hamilton, whose grandfather moved to the UK from Grenada in the 1950s, started his rise to the pinnacle of the sport in karts in 1995 taking top honours in the Masters at Bercy in 2000. A move to single seaters followed in 2001 with Hamilton taking part in the Formula Renault Winter Series finishing fifth overall. 2002 saw Hamilton back in Formula Renault, recording three wins with Manor Motorsport and finishing third in the championship standings.

The championship followed in 2003 - again with Manor Motorsport - and Hamilton was very much into his stride. Wins in the F3 Euroseries before the championship followed in 2005 with ASM. A jump up to GP2 did not daunt Hamilton as he won the title in style from Nelson Piquet Jr with ART Grand Prix. Showing his pure race craft, Hamilton also pulled off the pass of the season with an aggressive and daring move from third to first at the high speed Becketts complex at Silverstone.

The McLaren Mercedes squad had Hamilton under its protective wing since the age of 12 and with Juan Pablo Montoya making a sudden move to NASCAR and falling out of favour with the Woking-based team; Hamilton's name was suddenly in the frame for the race seat with the team in 2007.

Picking Hamilton, who was just 22 when he made his Grand Prix debut, over long-time test driver Pedro de la Rosa, the British rising star faced a steep learning curve. Hamilton had proven up to the task in every category of motorsport and was far from overawed in the prospect of moving up to Formula One and teaming up with Fernando Alonso.

Never before in the history of Formula One has a driver been so well prepared for his debut season and quite a season it would prove to be.

Hamilton's Grand Prix debut in Australia saw him finish third, quickly followed by runner-up positions in Malaysia, Bahrain, Spain and Monaco. Off track, Alonso had the message and the relationship was already on a downwards spiral. Hamilton won his first Grand Prix in Montreal after a flawless drive and followed it up a week later at Indianapolis.

Against all the odds, Hamilton was firmly in command of the championship at the mid-point of the season. An accident in qualifying at the European Grand Prix and then a troubled race ended his unprecedented nine Grand Prix podium run but Hamilton bounced back with a commanding win in Hungary as relations between his team and team-mate became strained.

A fine drive in appalling conditions at Fuji Speedway brought Hamilton his fourth win of the season and with two rounds remaining, enjoyed a commanding 12 point lead in the championship.

The final two races however saw the pressure get to Hamilton and the McLaren team. The failure to bring Hamilton in for new tyres in China when it was clear that he was struggling with massive tyre wear was a major error and the failure to finish was the end result. Still, a fifth position in Brazil would bring Hamilton the championship regardless of what rivals Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen could achieve.

After qualifying second at Interlagos behind Felipe Massa, Hamilton found himself caught out at the start of the race allowing Alonso and Raikkonen to pass. Trying to regain the positions, Hamilton ran off track and dropped back down the order. A mechanical glitch lost him further time soon after as he was unable to select a gear but it was the decision to switch from a two stop to a three stop strategy that finally ruined his race.

Taking the chequered flag in seventh position and with Raikkonen winning from Massa and Alonso, Hamilton lost the championship by one point to Raikkonen and ended his season equal on points with Alonso.

While Hamilton and the team seemed to throw away the championship in those final two Grand Prix, Hamilton has a stunning season and is now has a long-term deal with McLaren Mercedes that will see him race for the team until the end of the 2012 season.

With Alonso moving on after a turbulent season, Hamilton is joined by Heikki Kovalainen for the 2008 season. Given his track records so far in Formula One, he will be gunning for nothing less that championship glory in just his second season at the highest level.