Hamilton's first race as a Formula One driver was the Australian Grand prix. He qualified fourth and had a great debut finishing in third place, which he subsequently has described as a "fantastic achievement". It was only when he returned home to the UK after the Malaysian Grand Prix that it sunk in he was a racing driver due to all the press attention.

He finished in the top five of his first five races and won his first Grand Prix in Canada before coming first at the USA one. When he went to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix he was leading the world championship, his inexperience showed and he came in third. However, Hamilton states this race will stay with him forever, as his home crowd were 100 per cent behind him. The last race of the season was Brazil where he finished seventh and missed out on the World Championship by just one point.