Debate: can Lewis be as good as Michael Schumacher? | Simon Barnes on Hamilton's risk | 2008 race-by-race | Hamilton's win in his own words | Graphic: the most thrilling championship finish ever?

In the end it had nothing to do with the colour of his skin, the envy of his rivals, the machinations of the Formula One pitlane, spying scandals or stewards’ inquiries.

It didn’t matter whether he had a celebrity WAG, multimillion-pound endorsements and a bolt hole in Geneva. Or that a supporter of Felipe Massa tried to put a curse on him, armed with a black cat.

It didn’t matter that Anthony Hamilton, Lewis’s father, was praying in the pits — “I believed in God and prayed that right would come through,” he said — or that Hamilton has a gift from a higher power. Or so he thinks.

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Briton has taken his first world title and some believe he could now go on to overhaul the record of the legendary German

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All it came down to was whether a German in a Toyota could make it first to the line as fat drops of rain fell from the brooding skies above Interlagos. And, in a climax that will go straight to the top of all lists of thrilling sporting finishes, Britain can be eternally thankful that Timo Glock was sliding around on slicks in that final dash to the flag.

The Hamilton story has thrown up no end of dramas in the past two years and goodness knows what lies ahead, but, even if he goes on to break every record in Formula One (and time is on his side), nothing will ever match the heart-in-mouth excitement of this.

In a sport that measures life in hundredths of seconds, there has never been a margin this tiny. They fly to all corners of the world, chase each other over thousands of miles and an entire year’s championship comes down, literally, to the final twist.

It was 1989, Anfield, and Michael Thomas breaking to steal the league championship for Arsenal. It was 1999 in the Nou Camp and “football, bloody hell”. It was mayhem, and briefly confusion, all played out at 200mph.

Even as McLaren mechanics swigged champagne around him and camera crews clamoured in the pouring rain for a word with the new world champion, Anthony Hamilton wondered whether it was really true. “Even now I am not sure,” he said. “This business works in mysterious ways.” It was a remark that revealed all the stress and paranoia that has gathered over two years when the Hamiltons questioned whether the world of Formula One actually wanted a black kid from Stevenage as world champion.

Others may see Lewis as aloof, they may believe that he had the air of champion before he had the crown.

They winced at his claims that he was following his destiny and God was looking after him. Only him? They disliked the presumption in his remark that he wanted Michael Schumacher still to be racing, so he could measure himself against the very best who have taken to the track. The Hamiltons would argue simply that Lewis does have a gift and, boy, that he has needed it to overcome life’s hurdles, from the racism as a young schoolboy that required him to take up karate to, more recently, the political power of Ferrari. It has not, they say, been an easy journey to the summit.

“My story is not about luck or a fairytale,” Lewis has explained. “It is about hard work, about my family’s sacrifices and determination, my dad’s huge support for me and many other people’s belief and kindness.” As father and son wept together in the garage, they were thinking of the 16 years of hard work that has brought them here.

They were recalling the day as an eight-year-old when Anthony gave Lewis his first kart, and all the time spent on a track on an industrial estate in Hertfordshire. Day after day, hour after hour, Anthony would stand at the point by the track where Hamilton should start braking. Little did the boy know that his dad was moving inch by inch nearer to the corner, preparing his son for the days when he would be testing his nerve against the best in Formula One.

“I am extremely pleased, not just for us, but people like us,” Anthony said. “We came from nowhere, had a dream, worked hard, dedicated ourselves and here we are on top of the world. We would never ever have expected this.” As Lewis had slipped to sixth place yesterday, Anthony and just about everyone else assumed that the chance had gone. “To be honest, I thought it was over,” he said. “They were absolutely the worst few minutes of my life.” Had Lewis let the prize slip yesterday for a second year running, he faced the prospect of going down as perhaps the greatest choker in sporting history.

Instead, he becomes the youngest champion in Formula One and the first black one in the week when the United States stands on the threshold of voting for its first black President. The overt racism that Hamilton has faced, particularly in Spain, shows that this is no small matter. Sport is playing its part in breaking down these barriers.

Hamilton has been a polarising figure in all sorts of ways since he arrived in Formula One, but none of his detractors can dispute his right to be champion.

It is not just that he has finished on top of the standings this year — he has proved the most consistent driver over his first two seasons in the sport. He has a points haul of 207, which puts him 16 ahead of Massa, 22 in front of Kimi Raikkonen and 37 of Fernando Alonso. Those who question his calibre should chew on that.

With another decade in the sport, he could add more records to those he seized yesterday, but, for emotion and for drama, yesterday will never be beaten.

“We’ve got a few years left in the sport,” Anthony said. “But I don’t want another finish like that.”