Although Lewis Hamilton was denied an historic World Championship at Interlagos yesterday, he has still enjoyed an unprecedented first season in Formula One that, at the very least, announces him as a champion in waiting.

Last winter, we all knew that the British rookie was going to be good, but nobody guessed just how good. In March, when he was preparing to race in Formula One for the first time at the Australian Grand Prix, you would have been laughed at for predicting that he would lead the title race almost continually until the decider in Brazil and would then finish agonisingly close to becoming the first rookie champion in the sport’s history.

The first really to spot what was happening were, unsurprisingly perhaps, the handful of former world champions and greats from the past who regularly appear in the Formula One paddock working as television pundits or just enjoying the atmosphere, men such as Niki Lauda, Sir Jackie Stewart and Sir Stirling Moss.

While most were struggling to comprehend Hamilton’s run of early-season success, these men recognised one of their own, a special breed of driver, the very best of the best, drivers in the modern era such as Ayrton Senna or Michael Schumacher.

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Background

• Hamilton driven to despair in Brazil

• Search for answers gets under way

• Lauda and legends so quick to spot Hamilton greatness

• Champagne on ice after parties crashed

Background

• Hamilton ready to overtake Beckham

• The young man will soon have his time

• The Insider - October 22

Multimedia

• Should McLaren win appeal?

Hamilton was quick, often quicker than Fernando Alonso, his illustrious team-mate and defending world champion, and he was almost inhumanly reliable. The young man from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, did not make one significant error until his crash in practice in Monaco, his fifth Grand Prix.

As one podium after another led inevitably to his first pole position and his first race win - those milestones came as a “double” during a memorable weekend in Montreal in June – the next element that became clear was that Hamilton was not just a prodigiously talented driver, he was also the best-prepared driver in Formula One history.

All those years in karting, the long tutelage in McLaren after the fairytale meeting between a ten-year-old Hamilton and Ron Dennis, the team principal, were paying off in the most spectacular way. Hamilton’s uninterrupted schooling in junior formulae, his work on the psychological preparation for racing and his thousands of hours in the highly advanced simulator at the McLaren headquarters outside Woking had turned him into something of a rookie “veteran”, a type of newcomer never seen in the sport.

There are many qualities in Hamilton, but the key is his ability to deliver when the pressure is on, whatever the conditions or distractions. The cliché about the “zone” is absolutely correct with Hamilton. No matter what is going on around him – and the storms certainly raged during this epic season – he was invariably able to produce under pressure.

Looking back, the early races of the season seem a charmed time when Hamilton brightened millions of lives with his racing and his charm out of the car. But, from Monaco onwards, that innocence was steadily overshadowed as the poison in McLaren began to spread with the breakdown in relations between Hamilton and Alonso.

Hamilton must share some of the blame for the deterioration into all-out war between the two, but the prime mover was Alonso, who could not cope with his upstart teammate often being quicker than him and being given an equal chance to go for the championship. Most difficult was that the proud Spaniard felt that the team were emotionally behind their British driver and that he was in the cold. Alonso had his grievances but he handled the challenge of coming into McLaren and taking on Hamilton about as badly as it was possible for him to do so.

The second half of Hamilton’s season turned into more of a struggle, with events off the track regularly overshadowing his achievements on it. During this time, he stuttered a little and lost the initiative to Alonso, before refocusing his efforts and coming back with a controlled performance in atrocious conditions to win the Japanese Grand Prix at the Fuji Speedway.

From there, Hamilton should have gone on to win a title that had looked his for months. But a calamitous decision to leave him out on worn tyres at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai two weeks ago meant that one golden opportunity slipped by, then it went wrong for him for the second time in succession in Brazil yesterday. But there has been so much to savour this season and, although he may not have gone all the way, Hamilton has handled most of the obstacles in his path with ease: the challenge of Alonso and his machinations, the distraction of the McLaren/Ferrari spy scandal, the sudden onset of superstardom and the endless media attention that entailed.

If I had to pick a key moment in this remarkable exhibition by Britain’s newest sporting superstar, it would be the beginning of lap 39 at the United States Grand Prix in Indianapolis, where Hamilton, who was leading, was challenged wheel-to-wheel by Alonso on the pit-straight at 185mph. The Spaniard had been complaining on the radio that he should be allowed through, but the team told him to race.

So the two-times world champion took on the rookie, testing him, daring him to hold on and hoping that Hamilton would lose his nerve. But the 22-year-old just “kept his foot in”, as they say in motor racing, did not flinch and held his line into the corner.

Hamilton came so close this season, but he will leave it a wiser, tougher campaigner. This was just the beginning. There is a lot more to come.

The Hamilton file

Born Stevenage, January 7, 1985

Age 22

Lives Tewin, Hertfordshire

Status Single

Height 1.74m

Weight 67kg

Favourite music Hip-hop, R&B, reggae, funky house

Hobbies Playing the guitar, racing radio-controlled cars, books, gym, cycling, squash, tennis, karting

Social Partying with friends, relaxing with family, cinema, watching DVDs

Racing career started 1993, aged 8 in karts. Just two years later, wins his first British kart championship

1995 Meets Ron Dennis (team principal of McLaren Mercedes) and tells him of his ambition to race in Formula One for McLaren

1996-1997 Wins a further four British kart titles

1998 Dennis offers his patronage, Lewis signs long-term contract with McLaren

1998-2000 Wins European and world karting titles

2003 Champion, Formula Renault UK

2005 Champion, Formula 3 Euro Series

2006 Champion, GP2 Series

2007 Becomes first black or mixed race driver to compete in Formula One; becomes first rookie in Formula One to finish on podium in each of his first three races (goes on to nine consecutive podiums); becomes youngest competitor to lead Formula One drivers’ championship