A new era in British sport is about to dawn as two of the most exciting talents in a generation prepare for the climax of their respective seasons.

For Lewis Hamilton, anything better than a 6th place finish in the Brazilian Grand Prix tomorrow would make him the youngest world champion in the sport’s history, while for Andy Murray, a strong showing at the Masters Series Final in China this month would prove definitively that Britain has unearthed its most formidable lawn tennis talent since Fred Perry hung up his racket in 1938.

Hamilton is English, Murray Scottish; Hamilton black, Murray white; but in one crucial respect these two young Britons are brothers in arms: they are each unapologetically ruthless. There was a time when British sports stars, men such as Tim Henman and Jenson Button, were considered just a bit too nice to cut it in the hard-nosed, hard-edged world of elite sport. That age has ended.

You only have to look at Hamilton, 23, and Murray, 21, to see that they are two of the most cutthroat predators in the sporting jungle. They do not give a stuff for the trappings of victory, only victory itself; they are not concerned with playing a good game, only a winning game. You can see it in their eyes when they are preparing for battle: the narrowing of focus, the arrowing of ambition, the agitation of destiny. You can see it, too, if you look closely enough, in their restlessness during media interviews: they will only be distracted from their march to greatness for so long.

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This single-mindedness, however, is not the kind of thing that will make you the most popular boy in the playground. Murray has had spats with a number of players and coaches. But Hamilton is, if anything, even less popular. Just over a year ago, he walked into the drivers’ briefing before the China Grand Prix and was confronted with an atmosphere so hostile from his fellow drivers that he said afterwards they were waiting “with rifles, ready to shoot me”.

Now things are even worse: Robert Kubica, the BMW driver, has accused him of dangerous and overconfident driving; Kimi Räikkönen’s dislike is an open secret; and Fernando Alonso, Hamilton’s teammate from last year, created a furore recently when he said that he would “do everything” to help Felipe Massa win the title. Massa is the one man who can prevent a Hamilton victory and he is not even in the same team as Alonso. Paddock insiders say that Hamilton is the most unpopular driver since the retirement of Michael Schumacher, another driver infused with ruthlessness.

The pressure on Hamilton in Brazil is even more intense after the creation of a website in Spain called Pincha la Rueda de Hamilton – “Burst Hamilton’s Tyre” – in which the British driver is subject to racist abuse from fans. This comes after the scandal during a preseason test at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona in February when a group of Spanish fans blacked up their faces, wore wigs and T-shirts emblazoned with the words “Hamilton’s family” and called Hamilton a “black s***”.

That episode led to the FIA starting a campaign called Every Race, in an attempt to rid the sport of racism. Hamilton, for his part, has responded to the insults with dignity, refusing to respond by playing the race card.

Another thing that Hamilton and Murray share is formidable parents. In the case of Hamilton, it is his father, Anthony, who has nurtured his career ever since Hamilton started racing radio-controlled cars as an eight-year-old. Mr Hamilton told his son that he would take him to races provided he was assiduous in his school work and then proceeded to make sacrifice upon sacrifice to cultivate his extraordinary talent.

To this day he is his son’s manager, making theirs a relationship umbilically connected by history, genetics and economics.

Murray’s inspiration is provided by his mother, Judy, a tennis coach from Dunblane who has taken her two sons to the top of the sport: Andy’s older brother, Jamie, won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title in 2007. Judy masterminded almost every aspect of her boys’ careers, only taking more of a backseat position in recent years to focus on nurturing new talent for the Lawn Tennis Association.

Whatever happens tomorrow for Hamilton and later this month for Murray, these remarkable young men are here to stay. They have proved that they are as good as we have seen in British sport for some time, but that is not enough to satisfy either of them. They are on a narrower, more treacherous, road, and it will be jolly good fun for the rest of us over the coming years to see if they are able to reach their common destination: greatness.

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