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The morning after Lewis Hamilton was crowned the youngest Formula One world champion in the sport's history, his father revealed that the hatred directed at his son from some parts of the world has prompted him to consider withdrawing the 23-year-old from the sport.

Speaking minutes after Lewis had appeared for the first time, looking relaxed and happy in the wake of his nail-biting triumph in the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday, Anthony Hamilton talked about the hurt caused to him and his family by the openly racist attacks against them, particularly on some websites based in Spain.

“As a parent you want to make sure you do the right things for your kids, put them in the right places, and my family has taken a lot of stick this week, not just this week but in the past few months,” Hamilton Sr, who is known to be sceptical about the claims of the FIA, the sport's governing body, that it and its stewards are not biased against his son, said. “I did think maybe this isn't the place for my family. But we come here, do a decent job, we deserve to be here, we are here for the good of the sport, the good of the world.

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“People who like us, that's great, people who don't, I'm sad for them. God will forgive them. At the end of the day, we are decent people and we will remain decent people. I don't know why people see bad in us. I really don't know.”

Asked if he felt the attacks are racist, Hamilton Sr demurred. “I don't believe so, if I am honest,” he said. “If it is, I can't see it. I don't read it. I don't think it is just me that's shocked. Everyone is. It is a sport, a sport to be enjoyed by everybody. It doesn't matter where you come from, what colour you are, what background.”

Hamilton Sr, who is also his son's manager, said that whenever people insult his family or gesture at him at racetracks - he and Lewis were booed and catcalled at Interlagos, for example - he tries to turn that energy to their advantage. “When things are going against you, you get stronger and stronger,” he said. “You rise above it. Everything that is thrown at us, it's just huge positive energy. It's like fuel. The more you give us, the more fuel we have. It's brilliant. You can't run and hide, can you? I have never said to Lewis, 'I didn't think the world was like this.' You go back and say, 'Whatever it is, people love you.' The negative aspects are a small percentage.”

Lewis revealed that he avoided the massive hangover he experienced here this time last year, when he lost the championship by one point, by restricting himself to a couple of glasses of champagne at the McLaren Mercedes team party. The celebrations of a title triumph that he secured only when he overtook Timo Glock, the Toyota driver, almost within sight of the finish line, went on into the small hours.

“It feels great,” he said. “I don't think it's hit home yet. I woke up this morning and just felt relaxed and satisfied. I felt full of energy and really fresh. It just keeps popping back into my mind, 'Wow, you're world champion.' Never in a million years would I have thought I'd be here. Obviously I had dreamt of doing it, so it kind of does feel like a dream.”

Lewis said his skin colour has never been an important issue to him as a person or a racing driver. “I have not really thought about it,” he replied when asked how significant it was that he has become the first black world champion in the sport. “Pretty much for my whole life, I've never turned up to a race and thought, 'I'm the only black dude here'.

“We are just a family who love to race and enjoy the experience. We've won the World Championship that way. Hopefully, it can open doors to other cultures, a lot of youngsters can see that dreams can come true.”

In Italy, Luca Di Montezemolo, the Ferrari chairman, added his congratulations to the chorus around the world in honour of Hamilton's achievement. “I would like to send my congratulations to Lewis Hamilton,” he said. “He was a very powerful rival and his win, close though it was, was well deserved.”