The exceptional career of Lewis Hamilton by Der SPIEGEL

When Lewis Hamilton made his Formula one debut in 2007, nobody knew he would become the most successful driver of the racing series. Winning his first world championship title with McLaren, his move to the German Mercedes team was deemed hasty, but further six Driver’s Titles (equaling Michael Schumachers all-time record of seven World Championship titles) and eight consecutive Constructor’s Titles with the team speak for themselves. But the exceptional partnership between Hamilton and Mercedes ended unexpectedly, when Hamilton announced his move to Ferrari with the end of the 2024 Formula One season.

Just before his final race for the German constructor, DER SPIEGEL decided to explain how Lewis Hamilton made his way to the pinnacle of motor racing. By joining data visualization with sports imagery, the reader is not only able to learn about Hamilton’s won races, but to re-live Formula One’s closest, most exciting and most controversial seasons, too. Scrolling through the article, the reader actually turns a stylized wheel to reveal Hamilton’s Qualifying and Race positions, as well as championship points.

In addition to that, the article also shines a light on Hamiltons actions aside the racetrack, and on how he ended up as global superstar, reaching his more than 38 million followers on instagram.