Oct 31, 2008, 16:10 GMT
Hamburg - Lewis Hamilton is just one step away from being crowned Formula One's youngest ever world drivers' champion in only his second season in the sport.
British Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton of McLaren Mercedes walks through the pitlane before the first practice session on the race track in Interlagos near Sao Paulo in Brazil, 31 October 2008. The F1 Grand Prix of Brazil will be held on 02 November 2008. EPA/KERIM OKTEN
The McLaren-Mercedes driver goes goes into Sunday's final race of the season, the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos, holding a seven- point lead over Ferrari's Felipe Massa and needs just a fifth-place finish to claim the world title at the age of 23.
Born in in Stevenage, England on January 7, 1985, to a white mother and a black father, Hamilton has enjoyed a meteoric rise to Formula One.
In a short career to date, spanning just 34 races, Hamilton has registered nine victories, 22 podium finishes and 13 pole positions.
Like Massa, Hamilton was introduced to racing through karting at the age of eight. Two years later he met McLaren boss Ron Dennis.
McLaren signed the prodigy up to the McLaren young driver program when he was 13 years old, supporting Hamilton as he made a name for himself in first karting before going on to win the British Formula Renault championship in 2003.
Hamilton claimed victory in the F3 Euroseries two years later thanks to 15 race wins before moving immediately on in 2006 to instant success in the GP2 series, winning the title in his rookie year.
The young Briton also made an instant impact in his first season in F1 in 2007, where he was partnering defending double world champion, Fernando Alonso, finishing third in his first race in Australia.
Two second-place finishes behind Ferrari's Massa in Bahrain and Spanish followed as Hamilton became the youngest driver to ever lead the world championship, beating the previous mark set by Bruce McLaren.
Hamilton claimed his first pole position and race win at the Canadian GP, and followed this up with victory at the United States GP.
His relationship with teammate Alonso deteriorated after a controversial qualifying session at the Hungarian GP when the Spaniard was relegated five places down the grid to sixth for preventing Hamilton from leaving the pit lane in time to complete his final qualifying lap.
Hamilton went on to take victory in Hungary as well as Japan in heavy rain but his championship challenge began to unravel when he failed to finish the Chinese GP, leaving him going into the final race of the season in Brazil four and seven points ahead of Alonso and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, respectively.
A disappointing seventh-place finish at Interlagos saw race-winner Raikkonen pip Hamilton to the title.
While Alonso left McLaren to return to Renault and was replaced by Heikki Kovalainen for the 2008 season, Hamilton signed a new five- year multi-million dollar contract to stay with McLaren-Mercedes until at least the end of the 2012 season.
Hamilton got off to a winning start in his second season in F1, taking the chequered flag in Melbourne, and followed this up with a fifth place finish in the Malaysian GP.
The Briton failed to point in Bahrain but got back on the podium at the Spanish GP, finishing third from fifth on the grid.
A second-place finish in Turkey behind Massa was followed up by victory in the Monaco GP to move Hamilton into the lead in the drivers' standings.
However, he crashed into Raikkonen at the end of the pit lane at the Canadian GP and was given a 10 position grid penalty for the next race in France, where he also failed to point.
Hamilton returned to winning ways in his home British GP and at the German GP in Hockenheim. A 25-second penalty for cutting a chicane cost the McLaren driver a race win in Belgium and although he finished out of the points in Japan, victory at the Chinese GP in Shanghai sees Hamilton holding a seven-point lead going into the final race of the season in Brazil.
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