All hail the wonder kid from Stevenage

They are proud of Lewis Hamilton in Stevenage. The first thing the visitor encounters on leaving the town's station is a mural dedicated to its finest citizens - the Stevenage wall of fame.

Just before those of Ashley Young and Ian Poulter, the first picture the new arrival comes across is that of Hamilton. Further down the line, among the locals who found prominence as rally drivers, divers and sand yachters, are Kevin Phillips and Jason Shackell, of Burnley FC. Bringing up the rear is the referee Graham Poll.

And for most people hereabouts, the BBC Sports Personality Award today would be the appropriate reward for the driver who spent his formative years in the town.

"Oh yeah, we're proud of him all right," says Alan Watkins, who was out in the town one day this week. "Wherever it is he lives now."

Hints of Hamilton are everywhere in Stevenage. In the Westgate shopping centre - a concrete memorial to 1960s town planning - there is a bright-red racing car parked outside Miss Selfridge, with the legend painted on one wheel arch: "Stevenage an F1 town."

On the side of the council building is a banner marking the local lad's recent elevation to the world title.

"Congratulations Lewis," it reads. Round here the surname is redundant.

"We should have a statue, really," said the man at the flower stall just opposite the council offices.

"Not that I've ever seen him here. Saw his mum and his brother out shopping once. But not him. He moved on to better things."

During his championship season Hamilton reckoned that it was growing up in Stevenage that gave him the ambition to succeed. As he attempted to outwit his teammate Nico Rosberg he made an interesting comparison between their backgrounds.

"I come from a not-so-great place in Stevenage and Nico grew up in Monaco with jets and hotels and boats and all those kinds of things," he said. "So the hunger is different."

Hamilton did not mean to be disparaging. His point was that the new town in Hertfordshire, built in the 1960s along the straight lines of the A1 and the Great North Railway, is no bastion of privilege. Those who want to succeed have to fight for the opportunity.

At least one Stevenage resident was not impressed by his remarks. Howard Burrell, a local councillor responsible for young people, culture, sport, and leisure, said: "I think Stevenage is a great place to grow up and there was no need for Lewis to be so derogatory in his comments. I would prefer it if he chose to highlight some of the benefits of coming from our town. It's where he came from, after all."

As a child Hamilton lived on the Shephall estate. If not exactly the ghetto, no one could confuse the humble 1960s housing with a breeding ground of advantage.

He was educated at John Henry Newman School, where he was an exact contemporary of Manchester United's Young. Legend has it that they played football for the same school team, though Young these days says he cannot remember much about the diminutive young Hamilton. Which is odd, as another contemporary recalled that Hamilton stood out among his schoolmates.

"I remember him getting dropped off at school in a Mercedes with 'Lewis Hamilton' down the side," recalled Michelle Vooght.

"He was self-confident, but he'd never brag. He was a nice boy, friends with everyone and genuine."

In many ways, however, it was not Stevenage that made him. It was 16km down the road near Hoddesdon that the first hints emerged that he possessed something special.

Here can be found the Rye House Kart Circuit, a tight little spiral of tarmac where the air is filled with the angry buzz of lawn-mower engines.

"He started here at eight," recalled the track's owner Kevin O'Malley, whose son Josh was an early racing rival of Hamilton. "By the time he was nine, word was out. We are talking about a kid who, during a race, could lap the rest of the field not once but twice. A race would only last eight minutes, so it meant he was going at least three seconds a lap quicker than anybody else."

And from the moment his father Anthony first brought him to the circuit, the tiny little lad was hooked, turning up at the track as often as he could.

"A genius," O'Malley said. "I don't know where it came from. As far as I know Tony never sat in a racing car. And his grandad was driving buses back in Grenada. But he had some genes."

At the time Hamilton was driving the most basic kart, powered by a single 60cc engine started by a pull cord.

Lacking a gearbox, such machines are controlled by two pedals: one an accelerator, the other a brake. Though Hamilton never had any time for one of the controls.

"People say karting's all about the braking, but I honestly don't think he ever used his," reckoned O'Malley. "Even when he was in trouble he'd keep on accelerating."

And he pointed to a particularly devilish corner of the track at the end of the straight, which karts can approach at over 90km/h.

"There used to be a lake there. Well, we called it a lake, more of a pond. Lewis finished up in it more than once."

As Lewis started to win races, not just at Rye House but around the country, it was not long before his father was spending all the money he could muster on his son's progress. There were the karts, the trailers, the motor-home: it was a pricey business.

Hamilton spent no more than five years tearing round the track, beating all comers.

By the time he was 13 he had moved on to grander challenges. He had met Ron Dennis at an awards ceremony when he was just 10 and had informed the technical director of McLaren that he would soon be driving one of his Formula One cars. Dennis took the young Hamilton under his wing, coached and protected him, giving him the chance to race ever more sophisticated machinery.

O'Malley recalled that the youngster's final season at the track ended in triumph.

"He was always so grounded, so humble. I remember we had the end-of-season presentation evening at the Swallow Hotel. Lewis had to borrow a jacket off his mate, Chris Rogers. And when it came to the main award and it was announced that the winner of the President's Trophy was Lewis Hamilton, he went over to where his brother was sat, who as you know has cerebral palsy, got hold of his hand and led him up to receive the award with him. That was an amazing thing to do. He was only 13."

And that was about the last anyone saw of Hamilton. Not just at Rye House, but in Stevenage. In the sixth form he went to a crammer in Cambridge, by which time he had already been fast-tracked for Formula One.

You might think, given Hamilton's success, the track would be a regular haunt for scouts from teams out to check on the next potential champion. But no. O'Malley explained that he rarely sees anyone associated with the sport.

"We turn out top people in spite of, not because of, the system. There is no pathway," he said. "Every dad always believes his son has it. But with Lewis you always knew the investment would pay off. Some of the moves he was doing here, you'd just shake your head and go, 'Wow'. When you watch karts you know that the most important thing is having the belief to overtake. He was blessed with that."

Hamilton was back at the track in June on a visit organised by his sponsors. He and David Coulthard instructed a bunch of pupils from Hamilton's former school - that is between racing each other round the track. "I saw the old Lewis that day," said O'Malley.