"Hopefully I'll be racing F1": 12-year-old Lewis Hamilton predicts the future

"I love to put the pedal to the metal and just go really fast. Anything with an engine I just enjoy doing."

For a 12-year-old, Lewis Hamilton was incredibly self-assured. The Stevenage-born go-karter brimmed with conviction when speaking to ITV Anglia in 1997.

"I've just got to work hard and, hopefully, I'll be racing Formula One for McLaren", he said.

Fast forward 10 years - Lewis Hamilton had joined the McLaren team. Fast forward 22 years and he's done more than race Formula One. On 4 November, Hamilton clinched his sixth Formula One world title.

But how did the champ get his start?

ITV Anglia's reports from 1996 and 1997 document the making of the man. Watch archive footage of Hamilton's early go-karting days here:

At the US Grand Prix, Hamilton finished second behind Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas. The 34-year-old is now within striking range of Michael Schumacher's record collection of seven, after he took the chequered flag in Texas in second place. Not bad for a boy from Stevenage.