(CNN) -- Lewis Hamilton has always been driven by his emotions -- for better or for worse -- but has he found a new level of maturity with Mercedes? 

The double world champion has been schooled in the harsh lessons that Formula One can mete out since he joined McLaren's junior program when just 13 years old. 

But, despite this careful education by one of the most straight laced teams in F1, the British boy racer cannot help wearing his heart on his sleeve. 

There have been some heady highs and mesmerizing meltdowns in his eight-year career at the highest level of motorsport. 

Fizzing with energy, he bounded into the sport in 2007 and refused to lie down when faced with Fernando Alonso, a double world champion, as his feisty McLaren teammate. 

With Alonso gone after a single acrimonious season, Hamilton drove the McLaren to the 2008 title with "my heart in my mouth." 

At just 23 years old, he had sensationally clinched the championship at the last corner, of the last lap, of the last race to deny Ferrari's Felipe Massa -- and a seething crowd of home fans -- in Brazil. 

If 2008 was the young gun's giddy zenith, the 2011 campaign was his gut-wrenching nadir. 

His long-distance relationship with American pop star Nicole Scherzinger was more off than on and he had ditched his dad Anthony as manager in favor of a high-profile agency. 

Hamilton teetered on the edge of controversy and despair. The torch paper was lit at the Monaco Grand Prix when he was penalized by the race stewards. 
What year did he start in the sport?
Fizzing with energy, he bounded into the sport in 2007