Lewis Williamson's career profile
History is made this year, as for the first time a recipient of the McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award is a former British Grand Prix winner. In this case, however, the British GP in question was held not at Silverstone, but at the picturesque Cadwell Park circuit
Autosport Awards
The Autosport Awards are a series of awards presented by motor racing magazine Autosport to drivers that have achieved significant milestones each season. Some of the presentations are selected by the general public via a reader's poll.
Unlike most of his peers, Lewis Williamson made his name in the amateur-populated world of gearbox karting. He dominated the 125 ICC class, taking numerous championship victories, plus that 2008 Cadwell success.
Williamson is also the most northerly recipient of the Award to date. He was born in Dundee, but moved to the Highland town of Golspie as a youngster. Since his first steps in Formula Renault in the 2008 Winter Cup, he has clocked up a staggering amount of mileage on journeys that can approach 11 hours (to Snetterton).
He hasn't been able to move south, as his loyal local sponsors have him on an engineering apprenticeship. It is not uncommon for a sleepy-eyed Williamson to be in on time for work on a Monday, only a few hours since getting home after a Formula Renault victory.
After showing some rookie sparkle in 2009, Williamson moved to Manor Competition for 2010. His five wins were unsurpassed in Formula Renault UK this year, although he narrowly lost the title to three-time race-winner Tom Blomqvist in the finale.
A fantastic racer and overtaker, Williamson also showed growing maturity over 2010 and by the end of the year proved he could soak up enormous pressure while leading. Remarkably, he is the third successive Manor driver to win the McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award.
His most likely move for 2011 is into the GP3 Series. In October he was given a last-minute call-up to join the Estoril test. After flying indirect from Inverness to Lisbon and missing the opening day, he jumped into Atech CRS GP's car and outpaced the other 29 drivers, most of whom had already tested on the previous day and/or contested the whole 2010 season.
Britain already has one superstar racing driver named Lewis - here's another.
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