More than just a title

Interlagos, the dilapidated temple of Brazilian motor racing in a melting pot of a metropolis with a crowd more multi-racial than anywhere else in Formula One, could identify with Hamilton on Sunday despite their natural support for home hero Felipe Massa. So too could millions of others, previously unmoved and unrepresented, in a billion-dollar sport struggling to shake off an image as the playground of excess for a moneyed, white elite.

In a sport where all drivers look the same with their crash helmets on and where the only race that matters to most is the one on a Sunday afternoon, times are changing. Even now, though, the number of black mechanics in the paddocks can be counted on one hand. Narain Karthikeyan was the first Indian Grand Prix driver in 2005, and there have been several other Asians, but otherwise the sport has been markedly white.

8220;I feel like any of the other drivers that are out there that it is a dream for me to get to Formula One,8221; Hamilton said before his sensational debut last year. 8220;But what comes with it is that hopefully it can be of some influence, it can encourage other ethnic groups to get involved in the sport. It doesn8217;t have to be just for one group of people, it can be for everyone. People that can relate to the path that I8217;ve taken will see that it8217;s possible and will try also to get into the sport,8221; he added.

McLaren support

Hamilton has been supported by McLaren for more than a decade, their money helping his obvious talent, but nothing else in his background remotely suggested he might emulate drivers such as Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna.

Hamilton8217;s paternal grandfather, Davidson, emigrated from the West Indies in the 1950s to work on the daily grind of the London Underground system. His father, Anthony, worked for the British railway system while his mother Carmen was an employee in a care home.

Hamilton8217;s parents divorced when he was two. It was only when the youngster stepped into a child8217;s go-kart on a hard-earned family holiday in Spain that he was bitten by the motorsports bug. He had already made an appearance on a television children8217;s show for his prowess with radio-controlled cars, a hobby he still enjoys with half-brother Nicholas.

Crash dummy

On the racetrack, Hamilton has been a winner in every series he has entered. His Formula One debut, alongside double world champion team mate Fernando Alonso, showed he was overawed by no reputation. Hamilton racked up nine podiums in a row at the start of 2007, taking back-to-back wins in Canada and the United States and ending the season as overall runner-up by a single point after blowing his chance to become the first rookie champion.

This year he has won a further five times and attracted applause, criticism and controversy in equal measure. His move to Switzerland drew flak before the season when he said it was to protect his privacy rather than the more evident tax reasons connected with a contract tying him to McLaren until 2012.

British newspapers derided him as a 8220;Crash Dummy8221; at the Canadian Grand Prix in June when he rammed into the back of Kimi Raikkonen8217;s stationary Ferrari, waiting for a red light to change at the pitlane exit.

There have also been truly memorable moments: the victory at Silverstone in the wet hailed as one of the sport8217;s great performances after he lapped all but the second and third-placed finishers and won by more than a minute.

On Sunday, a year on from his agonising failure at Interlagos, it all came good as the first British champion since Damon Hill in 1996 stood on top of the world. As a record, it could stand for years to come.