A Champion´s Dream

Lewis Hamilton´s parents came to Britain from the island of Grenada in the

1950´s. Lewis was born in 1985, and his parents named him after the American athlete Carl Lewis. Did they know that sporting fame was waiting for their son, too?

When Lewis was six, his father gave gim a radio-controlled car and he began to win competitions, even against adults. From this very young age, Lewis´ dream waas to become a Formula 1 driver so his father bought him a go-kart and he started go-kart racing in 1993 when he was only eight years old. He won a couple of races, and he knew that he had to win more.

One day, when he was 10 years old, Lewis met a man calles Ron Dennis.  Dennis was the boss of the McLaren Formula 1 team. Lewis asked Dennis for his autograhp saying "My name is Lewis Hamilton and one day I want to drive your cars". Ron Dennis wrote in his autograh book "Phone me nine years from now, we´ll sort something out". In fact, when Hamilton won his first go-kart championship a few years later, Ron Dennis phoned him, and in 1999 Hamilton joined McLaren´s "Young Drivers" programme. He was the youngest person ever to do this,

In 2001, world Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher raced against Hamilton in a go-kart race and said, "He´s a quality driver, very strong and only 16. If he keeps this up, I´m sure he will reach Formula 1".

Schumacher was right. Lewis Hamilton started as a driver in F1 races in 2007. In his first six races, he came third, second, second,second and first. The he came first again in his next race. He finished the season in second place, behind Kimi Raikkonen. Then in 2008, at the age of 23, Hamilton became the youngest worls champion in F1 history when he finished one point ahead of Felipe Massa.

Lewis Hamilton had a dream, and he followed it and found what he wanted. And that´s a success

Read the text again and answer the fol questions:

When did Hamilton´s dream to be a Formula 1 driver begin?

What did he do when he was eight?

What did he tell Ron Dennis when he was ten?

Why did Ron Dennis phone Hamilton?

How old was Hamilton when he joined McLaren´s young drivers programme?

What happened when Hamilton started driving F1 races?