Lewis Hamilton
They call him the Tiger Woods of Formula One. Lewis is 22, British, and while distinguished as the sport's first black driver, he's right in the thick of the action. Hamilton gets to drive for Ron Dennis' hopefully resurgent McLaren team, alongside ruthless world champion Fernando Alonso. Talk about a hotseat.
After heralding his desire to drive for McLaren at the age of 9, Lewis followed up this supremely confident promise to Dennis with a fantastic karting career. The next year saw him as the Super One British Champion and the STP Champion, and in 1996 he won the McLaren Mercedes Champions of the Future series. A good omen indeed.
Ron didn't let go. In 98, Hamilton became the youngest ever driver to have any kind of an F1 contract, as he was signed on to the McLaren Driver Development Support Contract. After great success with Formula Renault, this year things finally come to fruition for Hamilton as he readies to take on the toughest boss, a champ teammate, and F1's most unreliable car of the last five years.
Can he and McLaren live up to each other's dreams?
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