On December 14, 2007, it was confirmed that Heikki Kovalainen who drove for Renault in 2007 would drive the second car for McLaren-Mercedes for the 2008 Formula One season alongside Hamilton.

In January 2008, Hamilton signed a new five-year multi-million pound contract to stay with McLaren-Mercedes until at least the end of the 2012 season.


Hamilton on the podium of the first race of 2008 in Melbourne.Hamilton won the first race of the 2008 season, the Australian Grand Prix, having qualified on pole. In the second race of the season, the Malaysian Grand Prix, he finished fifth after long duels with both Mark Webber and Jarno Trulli. He had been demoted to ninth on the grid, having qualified fourth, for impeding Heidfeld's flying lap. The third race of the year, the Bahrain Grand Prix did not start well for Hamilton as he had a crash in practice which destroyed his car. He raced with a spare chassis, and took third in qualifying. In the race, after getting off to a bad start and crashing into the back of Alonso's Renault, he finished 13th, leading to him being overtaken in the drivers Championship by Kimi Räikkönen and Nick Heidfeld.

He got back on the podium at the Spanish Grand Prix, finishing third from fifth on the grid. [68]

Hamilton finished second in the Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday May 11th 2008. He said that this was his best race he had ever competed in. Two weeks later, he won the Monaco Grand Prix putting him in the lead of the championship.

He achieved his eighth career pole position at the Canadian Grand Prix. In the race, he crashed into the back of Räikkönen whilst the Finn was waiting at a red light at the end of the pit lane after failing to see the light. Both cars were forced to retire and Hamilton was given a 10 position grid penalty for the next race, the French Grand Prix, as a result of this incident. At that race, Hamilton overtook Sebastian Vettel at the chicane on lap 1 but missed the apex and was given a drive through penalty which he served on lap 13, finishing the race in 13th. Despite an error in qualifying that saw him start fourth on the grid, Hamilton went on to win the British Grand Prix in difficult, wet conditions. His performance was stated as being one of his best drives to date.[69] Hamilton himself said in the post race press conference that it was his most difficult and most meaningful win.

In the next race at Hockenheim, Hamilton started from pole position, building up an 11 second lead over second-placed Felipe Massa early in the race. After stopping and re-emerging in the lead, McLaren then decided to keep Hamilton out on-track when the safety car was deployed mid-way through the race. When Hamilton finally pitted, he came out in fifth place, jumping to third after his team-mate let him by and Nick Heidfeld pitted. He then overtook Massa and Nelson Piquet Jr. for the lead, eventually winning by 9 seconds.


Hamilton was penalised at the 2008 Belgian Grand Prix for passing Kimi Räikkönen after cutting the previous corner. The stewards judged that he gained an illegal advantage, and the penalty dropped him from first to third position.Hamilton won the Belgian Grand Prix on the road, however he was later judged to have gained an unfair advantage by cutting a chicane when he used a tarmac run off area to avoid hitting Kimi Räikkönen.[70] McLaren said that their telemetry showed Hamilton backed off to let Räikkönen past.[71] Hamilton was given a 25-second penalty, thereby dropping him to third. As a result, main title rival Massa inherited the win. Hamilton's lead in the drivers' championship was cut to two points, and a subsequent appeal by McLaren to the FIA World Council was rejected on the grounds that the case was inadmissible.[72] Hamilton then finished third at the next race, the Singapore Grand Prix. Massa failed to score any points, allowing Hamilton to increase his championship lead.

At the Japanese Grand Prix Hamilton took pole in qualifying, with a fastest lap of one minute 18.404. His closest rival for the Championship title, Felipe Massa, could only manage to qualify fifth.[73]

At the start of the race, Kimi Räikkönen made a good start from second position, getting ahead of pole-sitter Hamilton. Hamilton, however, moved down the inside before the first corner, outbraking himself and running wide. This forced the drivers behind him to also go off the track, including the cars of Räikkönen and Heikki Kovalainen, for which Hamilton was given a drive-through penalty. The second incident was soon afterwards, on the second lap, when Hamilton attempted to pass Massa into the chicane at turn 10. Hamilton pulled alongside the Ferrari and Massa ran wide to avoid a car ahead, enabling Hamilton to pass. Massa, pushed off the track by Hamilton's manoeuvre, crossed the grass and came back in at the second bend of the chicane, pushing the McLaren into a spin. Massa was later given a drive-through penalty for this move. Hamilton, who had been in sixth place behind Massa, dropped down to last place and managed to finish the race in 12th place. However, his title rival Felipe Massa only finished fifth, meaning that with just two races to go Hamilton led the World Championship by five points from Massa.

At the penultimate race of the season, the 2008 Chinese Grand Prix, Hamilton was much faster than all the other cars in the practice sessions, and in qualifying he did well again, qualifying on pole position.[74] He went on to win the race from Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen, taking a 7 point lead in the World Championship into the last race of the season.

Finishing fifth in the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix, Hamilton clinched the 2008 Formula One World Championship, becoming the youngest driver to win the title, as well as the first black driver.[75] He needed to finish at least fifth in the race to win the World Championship and in the closing laps of the race, Sebastian Vettel of Toro Rosso took the fifth position away from Hamilton. Had the race ended then, this would have cost him the drivers' title, which would have been taken by Massa who had already won the race. However, first Vettel and then Hamilton managed to pass Timo Glock of Toyota on the final lap of the race, after Glock (unlike Hamilton) had risked staying on the track with dry-weather tyres, despite the rain that had begun falling in the final few laps. This moved Hamilton back up to fifth, ensuring that he finished one point ahead of Massa overall and won the 2008 title.

It was announced prior to the start of the season, that Hamilton would be partnering defending double World Champion, Fernando Alonso. Alonso had joined McLaren after leaving Renault.

On his début at the Australian Grand Prix, he qualified fourth and finished third in the race, becoming the thirteenth driver to finish on the podium in his first F1 career race (excluding those in the first ever World Championship round).[35] In Bahrain, Hamilton got his first front-row start, qualifying and finishing second behind Felipe Massa. Hamilton again finished second behind Massa in the Spanish Grand Prix, to take the lead in the drivers championship.[36] With that achievement, Hamilton surpassed Bruce McLaren to become the youngest driver to ever lead the world championship.[37]

Hamilton finished second behind Alonso at Monaco and afterwards suggested he was prevented from racing his team mate. But the FIA cleared McLaren following an investigation (see below).

Hamilton scored the first pole position and victory of his F1 career in the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal. He led most of the race despite the safety car being deployed four times.[38] A week later, Hamilton won the United States Grand Prix also from pole position, becoming the first Briton since John Watson in 1983 to win an F1 race in the US,[39] and only the second person, after Jacques Villeneuve, to win more than one race in his rookie F1 season since the first year of the Championship.


Hamilton at the start of the French Grand Prix behind Ferrari's Felipe Massa.By finishing third at Magny-Cours behind Ferrari drivers Kimi Räikkönen and Felipe Massa, Hamilton extended his lead in the Driver's Championship to 14 points. This was the first time in his F1 career he finished a race in a lower position than he started, and the first time he had been passed on the racetrack in Formula One. He took pole at his home Grand Prix at Silverstone and led the first 16 laps, but slipped to third, 40 seconds behind Räikkönen and Alonso.

During qualifying for the European Grand Prix, Hamilton crashed at the Schumacher chicane after a problem with the wheel nut air gun used on his car. He was taken to the circuit's medical centre on a stretcher with an oxygen mask and drip, but was conscious throughout.[40] His Q3 time was surpassed by all other competitors, and thus he qualified in tenth position.[41] After a final medical check on Sunday morning, Hamilton was cleared to race.[42] During a heavy rainstorm which caused the race to be red-flagged, Hamilton slid off into a gravel trap. However as he kept his engine running he was lifted back on to the circuit and able rejoin the race after the restart. His ninth place finish in this race was his first non-podium and non-points finish, enabling title contenders Alonso and Massa to reduce Hamilton's championship lead.

Hamilton won the Hungarian Grand Prix from pole position following a controversial qualifying session. Alonso had set the fastest time, but was relegated five places down the grid to sixth for preventing Hamilton to leave the pit lane in time to complete his final qualifying lap – potentially preventing Lewis from claiming pole position. Kimi Räikkönen stayed within five seconds of Hamilton for the entire race (excluding pit stop periods). McLaren were docked any constructor's points earned during the race due to the incident in qualifying.

After declaring he had restored his relationship with Alonso,[43] Hamilton qualified second in Turkey. After dropping to third at the first corner, Hamilton looked set for a podium finish with 15 laps remaining, but a right-front tyre puncture forced him to crawl back to the pits, leaving him to finish fifth meaning his championship lead was cut once more.