Jason Hamilton

Jason Hamilton (born 1995/1996) is an Australian racing driver. He has competed in F2RWRS and F3RWRS, and is currently competing in the 2015 Rejects of LFS season. He is the younger brother of Dale Hamilton.

Early career
Your call, Jason.

2011-12: REECCS
When the foundation of the Rejectful Eastern European Car Computerized Series was announced, the 15-year-old Hamilton acquired the appropriate license and a knackered old Skoda 110R to compete in the series. However, he couldn't gather the necessary budget in time, and could only make his début at the 13th race of the season in Pau, driving his own Petronas-sponsored car.

His race was pretty anonymous, ending in 16th position, just outside the points. At the next race at Bercy, he retired in an accident. After another discreet showing at Monza, Jason made his first big impression on the world stage at Lienz, where he ran in the top three for most of the race before dropping to seventh, his first points finish. At this point, he impressed Coca-Cola and Magnum, who teamed up to offer Hamilton a drive in an actual team, as well as a team mate for the season-ending Bathurst Enduro in the form of Chris Forbes.

In Hamilton's first race for an actual team, at the Norisring, he again finished 16th. In the season-ending Bathurst Enduro, Hamilton was off-form and finished his race in 32nd place, not even in the top three Skodas. With Forbes finishing 24th in his heat, the duo was classified 29th out of 40, not enough to score points. Hamilton's only points score was therefore his seventh position at Lienz, enough for nine points and 54th position overall.

Hamilton continued for a second season, for the same team and in the same Skoda. The first race at Birmingham wasn't anything to write home about, but at Autumn Ring Mini, he took his first pole position and had a chance at taking his first win, as he was comfortably leading, but he got held up in traffic and lost out in the ensuing battle with the other Skodas, eventually finishing sixth, his best result nonetheless. This meant that he won that race's Melrose Award, losing two points.

At Dunsfold, he qualified third, but had to start a lap down for undisclosed reasons and ended well outside the points. In Vanuatu, he was hampered by disappointing qualifying pace and again failed to score. He was now in 29th place with 8 points.

This changed at the fifth race of the year in Monaco. Jason qualified ninth, but kept his head cool while everyone in front was crashing, and won the race after a last-lap overtake on Ruby, also earning the award for best Skoda driver (worth 3 points) and the Bradbury Award (worth 7 points), meaning he scored 35 points in one weekend! He continued his good form at Lienz, where he finished fifth after challenging for the lead, scoring a further 11 points. This meant that Jason was now in third position in the championship with 54 points, 7 behind Samael Meerwick and 18 behind Zbynek Benes.

From then on though, Hamilton's season took a dive, and he failed to qualify for the 8th race at the Complex String.

2012-13: Junior series
After experiencing difficult machinery and tough opposition, Jason returned to Australia with much more experience and racing nous. His return to single-seaters was crowned with success, the epitome of which being a runner-up spot in the 2013 Australian Drivers' Championship behind Joel Melrose, younger brother of multiple Formula 1 champion Daniel Melrose.

2014: F3RWRS, F2RWRS, F1RWRS, F1RBCC
Boasting Petronas as his main sponsor, Hamilton attempted to barge his way into the F1RWRS at the age of 18 in order to gain his reject license for its introduction in 2015. Holden Racing Team was impressed by the young driver, and offered him a test in a 2012-spec F1RWRS car. However, this wasn't for an F1RWRS drive, but an evaluation for an eventual replacement for the disappointing George Liquor in the F2RWRS.

In the test, Hamilton impressed and outpaced Liquor, and was offered a drive by Mitie Aviation Racing, but the deal eventually fell through, deciding to enter the Holden junior programme. Sadly though, Liquor picked up the pace and Jason's chances of an F2RWRS drive vanished. However, Holden were impressed enough to offer him an F3RWRS drive in a third car for satellite team ZimSport-Rosenforth.

Jason welcomed his first chance at real competitive single-seaters, and didn't disappoint. At the first round in Adelaide, he scored two podiums, then took advantage of the reverse-grid second race to win at Laguna Seca after having an accident in race 1.

Meanwhile, George Liquor's form was getting worse and worse, and after a second straight retirement at Silverstone, the American was fired from Holden Young Lions, Holden's F2RWRS junior team. Coming off the back of another podium finish at Brands Hatch and in an impressive fourth place in the championship, five points behind Tomo Kazama and Michael Cameron, Jason was offered the vacant seat in the F2RWRS. Leaving the F3RWRS, Jason would still be classified in ninth position at the end of the season.

Hamilton's transition to the faster car was smooth, and he immediately impressed by picking up a point for eighth position on début in Austria. Jason's calm driving style and usual coolness during interviews also meant that he signed Magnum ice creams as another personal sponsor. After an accident at the Norisring, he continued to improve, scoring the fastest lap in the Netherlands and then his first (and, to date, only) podium at Spa-Francorchamps.

He then continued to impress by scoring regular points finishes until the end of the season, including fourth position at Brno and an other fastest lap at Montreal. This streak of good results didn't go unnoticed, and when Rhys Davies fell out with Holden in the F1RWRS, Jason was offered the seat for the final two races in China and Japan, thus becoming the first driver to compete in all three RWRS series. This stint wasn't very memorable, crashing out in China and suffering a mechanical failure in Japan, both times retiring in less than ten laps.

He also entered the 2014 F1RMGP 24 Hour V8 Bathurst Enduro alongside F3RWRS drivers Dieter Hallenstein and Mika Paasonen. After qualifying in eighth place, the team retired after 17 hours of racing.

However, after these good results, his season ended in the worst possible way. During the Indianapolis 100, Hamilton was blindsighted and collided with the stationary MRT of Marie Simon at over 320 km/h. Hamilton was transported to the Indianapolis Methodist Hospital with two suspected severely broken legs. At the hospital however, it turned out his injuries weren't as bad as initially feared, although it still kept him out of racing until the following April.

In the aftermath of the accident, Garry Rogers announced that Hamilton would have to prove his fitness before returning to his team. This caused more tension between Hamilton and Holden, and Jason ended up leaving the team. Daniel Melrose took Hamilton under his wing, promising the Australian a full F2RWRS season in 2016.

At the same time, Jason also took part in the Formula One Rejects Big Car Championship, causing tension between him and his personal sponsor Petronas by racing for Mobil 1 Racing. The conflict was resolved soon, as the series went bankrupt after just two races.

2015: TMRRC, RoLFS
To get back up to speed in time for 2016, Hamilton decided to enter the Trackmania Reject Rally Championship for the Red Bull World Rally Team, helped by personal Red Bull sponsorship. However, Jason's recovery took longer than expected, and he could make neither the Prologue nor the Rallye Monte Carlo.

In the meantime, Melrose Racing Team had filled up all their RWRS seats, but Daniel Melrose decided to enter the Rejects of LFS again after missing the 2014 season. Hamilton, as part of the Young Driver Programme, was chosen to lead the team alongside Alitalia young driver Martin McGovern. Since Jason was still recovering, he couldn't take part in the pre-season tests.

This meant that he started the season while unfamiliar with the car, and he therefore failed to qualify for the final in Blackwood after finishing 14th in his heat. In the second round, in Westhill, he finished his heat in 15th, but Melrose had already taken insurance to make sure that Jason would make the final, knocking out Karl van der Zwaart. In the final, he finally started to show pace, qualifying fifth and avoiding early accidents to finish in second position.

Outside racing
Hamilton is an avid yet impatient video game enthusiast. He stated that he had attempted a career in the Formula 1 game Grand Prix 4, and had quit after just two races from a lack of time.

This lack of patience doesn't show on the golf course, where Jason also likes to spend time.

REECCS results
† Hamilton won the Melrose Award and lost two points * Hamilton won his class and won three points ‡ Hamilton won the Bradbury Award and won seven points ** Standings accurate after Lienz

F3RWRS Results
† Driver did not finish but was classified as he completed 90% of the race distance.

RoLFS Results
† Driver did not finish but was classified as he completed 90% of the race distance. * Season in progress.