Hamilton began karting in 1993 at the age of eight. He quickly began winning races and class championships. At the age of ten he approached McLaren F1 team boss Ron Dennis for an autograph. He told him, "Hi. I'm Lewis Hamilton. I won the British Championship and one day I want to be racing your F1 cars." Dennis wrote in his autograph book, "Phone me in nine years, we'll sort something out then." Hamilton made good progress through the karting ranks. Ron Dennis signed Hamilton to the McLaren driver development program. This contract included an option of a future F1 seat. Hamilton would become the youngest ever driver to secure a contract which led in an F1 racing position.
Hamilton continued his progress in karting. In the top level of karting, his team mate was Nico Rosberg. Rosberg would later drive for the Williams and Mercedes GP teams in Formula One. Following his karting successes the British Racing Drivers' Club made him a ‘Rising Star’ Member in 2000.
In 2001, Michael Schumacher made a one-time return to karts and competed against Hamilton along with other future F1 drivers Vitantonio Liuzzi and Nico Rosberg. Hamilton ended the final in seventh, four places behind Schumacher. Although the two saw little of each other on the track Schumacher praised the young Briton, "He's a quality driver, very strong and only 16. If he keeps this up I'm sure he will reach F1. It's something special to see a kid of his age out on the circuit. He's clearly got the right racing mentality,".
Hamilton began his car racing career in the 2001 Formula Renault UK Winter Series. He finished fifth overall in the winter series. This led to full Formula Renault UK seasons in 2002 and 2003. Hamilton finished 2002 in third place. In 2003 he won the championship with ten wins and 419 points. Since he had enough points to win the championship, Hamilton missed the last two races of the season. He made his debut in the British Formula Three Championship at the season finale. He did show his speed at both the Macau Grand Prix and Korea Super Prix. In Korea, he qualified on pole position in his first visit to the track. It was only his fourth F3 race.
Hamilton made his debut in the Formula 3 Euro Series in 2004. Hamilton ended the year fifth in the championship. He first tested for McLaren in late 2004 at Silverstone.
Hamilton moved to the Euro Series champions ASM for the 2005 season. He dominated the championship, winning 15 of the 20 rounds. He also won the Marlboro Masters of Formula 3 at Zandvoort.
With his success in Formula Three, Hamilton moved to GP2 for the 2006 season. He won the GP2 championship at his first attempt, beating Nelson Piquet, Jr. and Timo Glock.
His 2006 GP2 championship happened at the same time there was a vacancy at McLaren. Juan Pablo Montoya left Formula on to race in NASCAR, and Kimi Räikkönen left to join Ferrari. Hamilton was confirmed as the team's second driver. He would be paired with defending champion Fernando Alonso for the 2007 season. He was told of McLaren's decision on 30 September. The news was not made public until 24 November. McLaren was afraid the news would be overshadowed by Michael Schumacher's retirement announcement.