The third kick in the guts administered to English sports fans was the most direct hit of the lot. If watching the national football team collapse in Moscow was painful, this was torture. The long wait to discover if Mark Cueto had scored a try in the rugby union World Cup final was a bit of light relief compared with the traumas of watching Lewis Hamilton fall short.

The agonising tension was prolonged deep into the night as the FIA stewards looked into possible breaches of regulations while rumours, which were to prove unfounded, swirled around that the finishing positions might be overturned in Hamilton’s favour. No one could believe that there would be another twist, but they had seen too much this season to rule it out.

The din is so deafening at Interlagos that it threatens to knock over the ramshackle houses that back on to the perimeter wall — yet you could still hear the gasps as this race unfolded. The gasps when Hamilton slid off the track seconds into the race and the disbelief on lap eight when he was stuck in neutral and drifting along at walking pace. Rocking to and fro in the cockpit, he looked like a man trying to shake life into an old banger.

There were exclamations every time Hamilton’s charge from the back took him wheel to wheel with those who stood between him and the world championship. He surged up the field from eighteenth to seventh, but with a good few laps to go it was obvious that it would not be enough.

In the sweltering heat of Brazil, it was the stunning climax that this season demanded — but almost as extraordinary as the race was what happened afterwards. As crestfallen Englishmen walked around in a state of shock, it was Team Hamilton who took on the job of cheering them up.

First out of the McLaren Mercedes garage was Anthony to insist that the word disappointment would not be in their vocabulary. “I am proud of my son,” he said. “We’ve proved that we’re here to stay.” Not long afterwards came Lewis himself. “It’s been a crazy year and I honestly can’t say I’m gutted. I’m not,” he said. Hamilton may have learnt a few painful lessons in the past few weeks, but in terms of showing the world how to accept disappointment, this was a masterclass in keeping your chin up.

The Hamiltons were so unfailingly upbeat that it was fair to wonder if it was an elaborate façade to hide the most colossal despair. Away from the cameras, was Lewis breaking down in tears? Was Anthony seeking somebody to blame for the fateful gearbox glitch that cost his son?

But then you remember that there is no sportsman on earth seemingly more certain of his destiny than the 22-year-old from Stevenage in Hertfordshire. As he said on the eve of the race in São Paulo: “I was born to do this.” Hamilton and his father truly believe that it is their destiny to change the face of Formula One.

“The way we’ve come in and done things with a smile on our faces, the way we’ve been appreciative of this opportunity, we’ve shown others how to do it,” Anthony said. “They’re the ones who’ve had to raise their game. Lewis has set an example for others to follow.”

Hamilton Jr had even talked earlier this season of his regret at the retirement of Michael Schumacher because he wants to pit himself against the best. He was already thinking about his place in the pantheon.

Across southern Europe, they will delight in pointing out the presumption in those words and they will argue, too, that a season of conspiracies had been notable, in the final analysis, for some McLaren cock-ups. There was the huge error by team and driver in Shanghai that left Hamilton in the gravel — and while mechanical failure was decisive yesterday, Hamilton also betrayed his youthful recklessness on lap one.

There has been a raggedness about the whole of the McLaren team as the pressure has told in recent weeks. And Anthony was pushing his luck when he talked of second place as part of the masterplan. “In a strange way, I think it is good that it has worked out this way,” he said. He had already convinced himself that winning as rookie would have been too much, too soon. But there can be no doubting the steeliness in his son. When a French female journalist tried to take him to task over the weekend for blocking Kimi Raikkonen in qualifying, Hamilton gave as good as he got. “What do you want me to do? Put on the indicators?” he asked. When she pushed her luck, he was withering. “How are you at your job? You’ve never made mistakes, no?”

Perhaps she will feel as though she had the last laugh, but Hamilton continued to be relentlessly upbeat as he spoke just a few yards from where Ferrari were celebrating their triumph. “To think that I’ve come from GP2 and am now ranked second in the world is a positive thing,” he said. “I go into next year full of confidence. I’ll be a lot stronger, even better prepared.” But even Hamilton’s self-confidence may take a few months to recover from this disappointment.

So near, yet so far

They came, they saw, they whimpered. Sporting history is littered with the detritus of nearly men, who, when presented with the jaws of victory, recoiled like nervous dental patients and opted for defeat instead. So, as we struggle to come to terms with the fact that Lewis Hamilton’s title assault went off track in São Paulo, here’s a reminder that we’ve seen it all before – and then some . . .

Newcastle United The season is 1995-96 and Kevin Keegan’s rejuvenated side are strolling towards the top-flight title with a 15-point lead over Manchester United. Alex Ferguson fuels the Old Trafford revival by suggesting that teams are trying harder against his side than against Newcastle, Mighty Mouse lets rip in return with a televised rant at his rival and within a few weeks a simple psychological trick turns the formbook on its head.

Greg Norman In the opening round of the 1996 Masters at Augusta, Greg Norman had a course-record 63. Three days later he blew a six-shot lead as Nick Faldo won by five strokes.

Jimmy White Always the pink ball, never the black. The Whirlwind finished runner-up at the World Championship more times than any player in the modern game, but perhaps the biggest flop came in the last frame of the 1994 final. With a straightforward black to put the title beyond Stephen Hendry’s reach, White missed his target by half a cue length.

Jana Novotna Nobody likes to see a woman cry, but Novotna blubbed like a newborn baby the day she handed the Wimbledon singles title to Steffi Graf. Leading 6-7, 6-1, 4-1 and 40-30, the Czech was half a glass of Robinson’s Barley Water from her lifelong dream. Ten minutes later she had lost – and the waterworks were turned on in earnest.

Gavin Hastings Here’s one to cheer up the rugby fans – south of the border. In the 1991 World Cup semi-final at Murrayfield, Scotland’s Mr Reliable had a penalty in front of the posts to put the home team 9-6 ahead. Inexplicably, he missed – and England were in the final. Unfortunately they lost to Australia – but then this isn’t really a day for good news.