Analysis: family keeps Hamilton focused

"I have to dedicate this win to my dad because without him this would not have been possible," the 22-year-old rookie said after winning the Canadian Grand Prix to go eight points clear in the championship.

"You wouldn't believe the amount of work he's put into my career," said the Briton, the first black driver to break into the glamour sport and succeed.

"He had nothing when he was younger. He lost his mum at a young age and just to see his family be successful is a real pleasure to him."

The tribute was richly deserved. The close bond with father Anthony, a constant presence at the races, as well as half-brother Nicholas who has cerebral palsy, has been a driving force in Hamilton's meteoric rise.

Lewis's parents divorced when he was a toddler and he now lives with his father and stepmother.

Anthony Hamilton, the son of immigrants to Britain from the Caribbean island of Grenada, was not born to wealth or privilege like many in motor racing.

The story of how Anthony, whose father worked on the London Underground and who was himself employed on the railways, juggled three jobs to pay for Lewis's early go-karting activities is well known.

That background has kept the rookie's feet on the ground and provides a sense of perspective even as the hype around him reaches for the stratosphere going into this weekend's US Grand Prix.

In Monaco last month, Hamilton finished second to double world champion teammate Fernando Alonso in a race that he could have won had the strategy fallen his way.

After taking his trophy from Prince Albert, he stepped down from the podium and handed it to Nicholas, watching from a wheelchair.

"My brother supports me in every race and it is good to have him there and he loves to be a part of it and I am proud to have him with me," he said.

Tennis great Boris Becker, who knows a sensational debut when he sees one after winning at Wimbledon as a 17-year-old, recalled how impressed he had been with Hamilton's gesture.

"Lewis sees it every day, how fortunate he is. He gave the trophy straight to his brother. His brother, in a wheelchair, was delighted with it," the German told the Daily Telegraph this week.

"That really sets the tone for his life. He always knows that when he's got money, glory, fame, beautiful women, it was a stroke of luck made him a healthy young man. I think that's something that's always going to be there for him."

Hamilton stood out from an early age, almost from the day his father bought him a radio-controlled car and observed a special talent at work.

The tale of how, as an 11-year-old, the future Grand Prix winner approached McLaren boss Ron Dennis at an awards ceremony and told him he wanted to drive for McLaren has gone down in motor-racing lore.

The fact that Dennis took note and backed Hamilton for a decade says much for his ability to spot a precocious talent and nurture it. Without that support, the story would be very different.

Hamilton is living his dream, already the youngest Briton to win a Grand Prix and the only driver to finish on the podium in all his first six races, but it is one fuelled by self-belief rather than the arrogance that some see as essential to success.

"He obviously knows that he's pretty good but there's no trace of an ego," Britain's last champion Damon Hill observed this week.

"You won't find Lewis strutting his stuff. There is an overall subtlety to his personality and character which I admire hugely."

Anthony Hamilton is determined that will continue, even if Lewis keeps on winning and the hubbub around him grows louder.

"It's about remaining normal isn't it?" he told Reuters after watching his son's sixth podium finish in as many F1 races last weekend.

"If you start to become someone you are not then you will fall flat on your face."