It had been predicted since he was a pint-sized kid racing go-karts. At the tender age of ten he even told his current boss that he would do it.

Yesterday in Montreal the prophecies came true. Lewis Hamilton won his first Formula One Grand Prix, and in so doing racked up a stack of records.

The “Tiger Woods of Motorsport” is the most spectacular rookie in history, having become the first to claim a podium position in his first six grand prixs and the youngest to claim an outright lead in the driver’s championship.

Now Hamilton, 22, the first driver of Afro-Caribbean origin to compete at Formula One, is in pole position to become the first to win a world championship in his first season and, according to one recent report, to earn $100 million (£50 million) a season.

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Lewis Hamilton won - the only mystery was why it took him so long

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After his victory he alluded to his increasing dominance of the sport by describing parts of the Canadian race, which he led from start to finish, as “a little bit boring”.

He said afterwards: “I felt that I have been ready for this win now for quite some time and for me it was just a matter of when and where. Yesterday I was over the moon, yes, to get pole. But today, this is definitely on a different planet for me.”

The road to the podium started 16 years ago on holiday in Spain when, aged 6, he got into a go-kart and crashed. Ignoring the blood streaming from his nose, he immediately climbed back in.

His father, Anthony, recognising an embryonic indomitability, soon bought him his first go-kart and took part-time jobs on top of his work with British Rail to pay for his son’s racing. The deal with his son, who was named after the American Olympic sprint and long-jump champion Carl Lewis, was that if he did his homework the racing would continue.

After yesterday’s victory Mr Hamilton said that his son had always remembered the virtue of hard work. “He puts a lot of work into his racing. Lewis has made a lot of sacrifices, apart from us as a family, and he’s reaping the rewards now, which is good. Lewis is just full of self-belief. Today was an extraordinary day but it’s just another event, another chapter, in his desire to win the drivers’ world championship.”

Hamilton first encountered Ron Dennis, his boss at McLaren Mercedes, when he won the McLaren “Champions of the Future” award aged ten. Knowing that Mr Dennis would be giving away the prize, Hamilton prepared his approach. As he shook Mr Dennis’s hand he told him: “When I am older, I will be racing for your Formula One team.” Hamilton carried on winning and within three years Mr Dennis was on the phone offering him a contract that included an option for a seat in Formula One.

Hamilton’s progression through the ranks of karting and the junior formulas was unrelenting and he drew plaudits for his positional awareness, competitiveness, speed and what has been termed his sixth sense.

Despite the glamorous globe-trotting life he has embarked on, his father will be keen to ensure he remembers his roots. Hamilton’s paternal grandfather emigrated from Grenada in the 1950s. Hamilton describes as his inspiration his younger brother Nick, who has cerebral palsy. Their mother is English and white but the couple separated when Hamilton was two. Their teenage years were spent with their father and stepmother, Linda, in Stevenage, Hertfordshire.

Although Hamilton has never regarded his ethnicity as important, Formula One chiefs are acutely aware of his ability to reach areas of society where the sport has not traditionally been followed. The “Tiger Woods effect” could bring billions to the sport.

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