Lewis Hamilton

It is difficult to imagine motorsport without Hamilton - but, then, F1 has been his destiny from an early age.

Lewis began his motorsport career in 1995 when he was crowned the Super One British Champion as well as the STP Champion. It was the start of his dominance in all the series that he would enter as he swept to victories in the Sky TV Kart Masters and the Five Nations before beginning his association with McLaren by winning the McLaren Mercedes Champions of the Future series.

Hamilton's successes in British Formula Renault, the F3 Euroseries and the GP2 series saw him earn a test driver role with the McLaren F1 team and after impressing team boss Ron Dennis, he landed the coveted role of team-mate to Fernando Alonso in the 2007 F1 season.

And he quickly rose to the occasion. Fourth place in his first qualifying and a third-placed finish in his debut grand prix in Australia saw Dennis' faith in Hamilton immediately vindicated.

The McLaren driver went on to record wins in Canada, the United States, Hungary and Japan but a series of mishaps in the final two races saw him finish runner-up in the Championship behind Kimi Raikkonen.

Four podium finishes, including two wins, in the opening five races saw Hamilton get 2008 off to a solid start. Victories at the British GP and in Germany followed but along with the successes came penalties in Belgium and Japan.

The McLaren driver, though, rose above it all to put aside 2007's disappointment to win the Drivers' Championship title by one point from Felipe Massa.

His title defence in 2009 was anything but stellar, largely due to his early transgressions coupled with McLaren's failure to produce a race winning car.

Hamilton was found guilty of deliberately misleading race stewards in Australia and from there it went downhill. In spite of winning in Hungary and Singapore it was evident the Briton had no chance of retaining the title.

His season ended on 49 points, a marked difference to that of Championship winner Jenson Button, who claimed 95 on his way to the title.

McLaren announced that Button would partner Hamilton in 2010 in an all-British team. However, the dream team failed to produce the goods as Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel dominated.

Hamilton did manage to stay in the title fight right up until the final race in Abu Dhabi. But needing 24 points and for all three of his rivals to crash out of the race, it was a long-shot and he had to settle for fourth in the standings.

While Hamilton wasn't happy with his 2010 showing, his performances in 2011 were even more disappointing as again he fell foul of the stewards following a number of clashes with Massa.

The Briton managed just three race victories and three additional podium results, finishing fifth in the standings, well off the pace of Championship winner Vettel. He was also beaten by team-mate Button.

Hamilton eventually kissed and made up with Massa and there are hopes he will be back among the pacesetters in 2012.