Lewis Hamilton will be the first black driver to compete in Formula One next season.

But you can bet Bernie Ecclestone's bank balance that the only color he'll be concerned about come the season-opener in Melbourne in March is green for go on the grid.

While he can lay claim to being the first black driver to compete in the sport, he is not the first black competitor to test an F1 car, that honor went to California-born Willy T Ribb who tested for Brabham at Estoril in 1986.

Hamilton owes his place in the McLaren cockpit to a meeting at Britain's 1994 Autosport Awards when, aged nine, he approached McLaren boss Ron Dennis and calmly asserted that he would be interested in driving for the team - once his feet could reach the pedals. 

Dennis was impressed with the youngster's confidence, and kept tabs on his development from the kart circuit to GP2.

He liked what he saw - an ambitious young man with the cool head and ambition to be a potential world champion.

Hamilton, who turns 22 this month, was born in Tewin in Hertfordshire to parents who had emigrated from the Caribbean island of Grenada.

And his father, Anthony, who has backed him all the way, was the proudest man in Spain in November when he watched trackside as his son performed his first day of F1 testing at the Catalunya circuit.

Despite Dennis's belief that the young British tiger is ready to roar onto the Grand Prix stage there are some, like David Coulthard, who have voiced the belief that it might be wiser if Hamilton had spent a year as a test driver before being thrown in as a raw rookie.

Hamilton dealt with the veteran Scot's opinion with the maturity he'll need in abundance once he starts rubbing shoulders with teammate and double world champion Fernando Alonso.

"I value his opinion," Hamilton told The Times.

"Obviously he's extremely experienced and I've always looked up to David, so I think in some ways he could be right, but at the end of the day I have done all I need to do in the build-up to Formula One and I've got plenty of time to do the testing."

Certainly Hamilton has coped pretty well with any pressure thrown at him up to this stage in his fledgling career.

He started kart racing at the age of eight, graduating to cars in 2001.

However, his debut in Formula Three was not one he'll want to replicate in F1 - he crashed out at Brands Hatch and had to be taken to hospital.

That proved a rare reverse and last year he was crowned GP2 champion, paving the way for his F1 debut in Melbourne in March.

As for his ambitions for his first season he says: "I haven't really thought about targets, although every driver's ultimate target when they reach F1 is to win the championship.

"I just want to give myself the chance to do the best job possible by doing mental and physical training, learning the car by spending a lot of time with my engineer and going through different scenarios to the ones I have encountered before.

"I will be surrounded by more mature people whose advice I will take on board, but I know what to do as a driver."

Turning to his long association with McLaren he added: "It's a nice story. I've been with the team for nine years now and I'm only 21. Loyalty has been the key.

"This is the end of one chapter of my life and the start of another."

(China Daily via AFP January 10, 2007)