A year ago, he was an anonymous kid. Most of the world had never heard of Lewis Hamilton.

But, in six short months this year, or four if you stick to the Formula One calendar, he has become one of the most recognisable sports stars on earth.

A sequence of an unprecedented nine successive podium finishes has catapulted Hamilton, 22, the first man of Afro-Caribbean descent, from the status of highly-talented rookie to leader of the F1 drivers' world championship, the youngest in the sport's history.

MODEST BACKGROUND

But if that were not enough, Hamilton's story of sporting success is one that comes with a remarkable background - he is a black man, from a broken home, from a modest background in the town of Stevenage, in Hertfordshire.

Hamilton's mother Carmen separated from his father when he was barely two. But neither of them allowed that sad event to have a lasting effect and Anthony has worked, worked and worked again to support his son and his own belief in what they describe as his 'God-given talent' for racing.

He also owes much to Ron Dennis, the head of the McLaren-Mercedes team, for becoming his patron and guiding light, both financially and in terms of his development as a driver, for the last nine years.

And, perhaps above all, he can thank his relationship with his half-brother Nicolas for his amazing capacity to remain cool, calm and unaffected when he is both racing on the track and handling the media and a mass of fans off it.

Nicolas, to whom Hamilton dedicated his second-place finish at the Monaco Grand Prix earlier this year, gives his older brother a sense of purpose, value and energy. And, importantly, he suffers from cerebral palsy, which makes each day a personal struggle for him.

Hamilton said: "Nicolas is my greatest inspiration. I look at him and that puts my life into perspective. He comes to all my races - he's my biggest fan. He fights so hard - and if he can fight every day then so can I. I race for him.

He's what keeps me up there and keeps me motivated."

Hamilton benefits enormously from the tight family support he receives. It is all the more valuable to him because he finds it difficult to trust people.

"Trust needs to be earned," he said. "I can count my friends on one hand and I keep those closest to me."

Lewis Hamilton was born, to Anthony and Carmen, in Stevenage on 7 Jan 1985. He was named after Carl Lewis, the American Olympic champion who thrilled the world not only with his feats of speed and distance, but also through his articulate communication skills and charming modesty.

When Anthony and Carmen separated, Hamilton lived with his mother in a house on a Stevenage housing estate.

This was, by no means, the kind of gilded background from which some previous Formula One greats had emerged. Indeed, it was a tough introduction to ordinary, provincial English life.

Young Lewis wins the Champ of the Future race in 1996

Hamilton grew up in Stevenage where his roots remain. But it was karting that lifted him out of his ordinary life, a sport that he was led to by his father who had a feeling that his son had a rather special hand-eye sense of coordination.

He saw it first with radio-controlled cars and then had his suspicions confirmed during a karting day out at nearby Rye House.

It was soon obvious that Hamilton was not only naturally talented, but also in love with the sport. Anthony decided, almost immediately, that he would devote his life to supporting his son's racing career.

Hamilton was competitive from the start, even as a novice, and became the youngest British Cadet Champion in junior karting.

When I first saw him race, on a windswept circuit at the former wartime aerodrome at Kimbolton, he was much smaller than his rivals in stature, but beat them with ease at speed on the circuit.

When his mother moved to London, Lewis chose to stay with his father in Stevenage and to continue his racing career.

His decision came from his own remarkable determination to succeed and a realisation that personal sacrifices were necessary if he was to do so.

His father's family was from Grenada, in the West Indies, and they, too, had all been noted for their stubborn determination to succeed.

Anthony took redundancy from his job as an IT manager with British Rail to manage Hamilton's fledgling career and to drive him to races all over England and in Europe.

At different times, he held down three jobs to finance his son's passion, including putting up estate agents' signs.

He has since set up his own successful IT consultancy and now, on top of that, he is Hamilton's full-time manager - a responsibility that has grown in stature as quickly as his son's blossoming career.

"It's the ordinary guy who makes good story," said Anthony. "Everyone can identify with Lewis. He reaches out to whole communities because of who he is, his skin, his colour and his background, in a way that nobody has ever done before. He has got the talent, but he has done so much work to realise all this."

AMBITION

The McLaren connection is also no fluke. Lewis had always been a great fan of Ayrton Senna and was always fired by an ambition to follow him and race for the Woking-based team.

But incidentally, the yellow helmet is Hamilton's choice not because of any special affection for the great Brazilian, but because it was easier to spot in a crowd of karting boys than any other colour.

When Hamilton, as a junior karting cadet champion, was invited to attend and collect an award at a glittering ceremony in London, he went with Anthony, wearing a borrowed bottle-green velvet suit, white shirt and bow tie.

He was then, aged nine, a very young and little boy. But he lacked neither courage nor conviction.

"I went up to Ron and told him I wanted to drive for McLaren and become world champion," explained Lewis. "I had my autograph book with me. He wrote in my autograph book, 'Try me in nine years' But, two or three years later, he called me."

At that time, Anthony was stretched in attempting to juggle all the various facets of his busy life: Hamilton, work, career, cash-flow and the future.

At one time, a London marketing agency that specialised in handling black stars approached the family.

(By this time Anthony had married again, to Linda, and Nicolas was born).

Anthony was not keen to lose control of his prodigy, but saw the need for more
and more money to pay for Hamilton's career.

And then Dennis signed him for the McLaren young driver programme and provided generous personal support. Life changed dramatically for Hamilton and he began the rapid rise through the ranks that carried him from karting to Formula One via Formula Renault, Formula Three and GP2.

He always showed speed and the style of a champion.

Along the way, before being launched into Formula One this year, he studied hard, learned languages, attended specialist fitness classes, worked at his job and filled his life with commitments.

He learned to be dedicated, disciplined and focused in a way no previous top-level racing driver has done before him at his age.

It is for this reason that Hamilton guards his personal life so fiercely - like his relationship with his Hong Kong-based girlfriend Jodia Ma, whom he met four years ago, when both were studying for their A levels at Cambridge College of Arts and Sciences, and his friendship with former school-mate Ashley Young, an English Premiership footballer with Aston Villa.

Hamilton was a decent player himself and also has a black belt in karate, a skill he used to frighten off local bullies.

But Hamilton is famous for his loyalty and generosity as much as for his suspicion of strangers and slow lack of trust.

He revisits his old friends in the junior paddocks when he travels to Grand Prix meetings and he makes a point of looking at, and talking to, fans when they ask him for autographs. Not for him any cheap absent-minded signatures.

As for Jodia Ma, he has been relatively quiet, if not tight-lipped on the subject, and understandably so.

A heavy Formula One schedule, media and promotional commitments and the fact she moved back to Hong Kong meant he has little time to see her since September, though they did spend some leisure time together in Bali in March.

Add to this the problems that go with having a list of celebrity admirers - Courtney Love has desperately been trying to arrange an introduction and he was photographed looking very cosy with British pop star Natasha Bedingfield.

And it becomes apparent how easy it could be for Hamilton to become distracted from his goals.

He insists, however, that this will never happen.

"You just can't lose focus. When I am driving at 200mph, if I lost focus then I could die," he said.

"So it kind of puts it into perspective..."

He is now just as adroit at glancing off the questions he prefers not to answer as he is at sliding round the corners faster than any other man on earth.

The personal stuff can wait. Lewis Hamilton is the man of the moment and he wants to be a man who stays on top, whatever it takes.