Rookie of the Year: Lewis Hamilton

The GP2 champion's performances throughout the year were not only enough to convince Ron Dennis to give him a McLaren race drive for 2007, but also for the readers of autosport.com to vote for him over several other strong candidates.

"GP2 was a fantastic class for me," he said after receiving the award from Eddie Jordan and Jean Alesi.

"Without the opportunity to show what I could do to the F1 teams, I wouldn't be where I am today."

Hamilton quickly adapted from Formula Three to the high-powered GP2 car with reigning champions ART, and scored his first win of the year at only the third race weekend of the season.

His bravery and race craft were apparent on several occasions during the season, most notably at Silverstone and Istanbul.

Hamilton took a superb double victory in front of his home fans back in June, and pulled off a spectacular three abreast pass into Becketts on Clivio Piccione and title rival Nelson Piquet Jr.

Then, after a spin early in the race at Istanbul, the Brit charged through the field to recover to second place in spectacular fashion.

"Races like Turkey show that with determination and commitment, and if you never give up, you can achieve anything."

Hamilton is now focused on his debut season in Formula One, and is relishing the challenge of being teammate to world champion Fernando Alonso.

"We have four months to prepare," he said. "Being teammate to Fernando will be a challenge, but he will bring a lot to the team and I will learn a lot from him."

When Jordan announced the award he quoted something that Ron Dennis said to him when he started his F1 team in 1991.

"When I came to Formula One, Lewis' boss told me 'Welcome to the Piranha Club,'" he said.