Despite the fact that he missed out on winning the 2007 drivers championship by just one point after leading from the second race of the season, McLaren’s rookie sensation, Lewis Hamilton, is more than happy with the way his debut year in the pinnacle of Motorsports panned out.

Going into the final round in Brazil, Lewis had a four point lead over his teammate, Fernando Alonso, and a seven point advantage over Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen. However, a glitch with the gearbox on his MP4-22 saw him drop back through the field and he eventually finished seventh overall, and second in the championship.

“It wasn’t a great feeling when the gear box went in the last race but I still thought I could win,” he told the Sun. “Overall it was a fantastic season. I had so much to learn in such a short period of time, it was a great experience for me. I got to the first race and I was as physically and mentally focused as anyone - if not a little bit more. I had to use split second decisions to make perfect judgments when the time came and did a pretty good job of it. But I didn’t have the experience the other drivers had, I just had to take it as it came. I’m ranked No2 in the world and that’s pretty good in the world. It exceeded my expectations.”