'Lewis will be more popular than Tiger Woods,' says Michael Eboda, editor of the New Nation, a paper that serves the African Caribbean community. Eboda likens Hamilton's success following his grands prix victories at Montreal and Indianapolis and five podium finishes this season to Venus Williams's first victory at Wimbledon. 'He's turning the whole community on to the sport,' says Eboda. 'People are glued to their screens when previously they would never have considered watching F1. One of my friends can't even drive and he's calling me up to talk about Lewis.'
'I get emails and phone calls after every race,' says Rodney Hinds, sports editor of rival newspaper, The Voice, who for the first time in the paper's history applied for F1 media accreditation this year. 'There's a buzz about Lewis; people who don't know a goalpost from a lamppost are talking about him. He's uniting and exciting people. It's the relate-ability factor. I know Richard Williams [father of Venus and Serena] and he'll be over here around the same time as the British GP. I wouldn't be surprised if someone from their camp went to meet Lewis.'
Hinds says his readers are huge sports fans, but the issue in the black community is about getting to live events. 'I had a phone call this week from two sisters who have followed F1 for years; they've done the European circuit but they tell me there are no other black people there. We are the people watching sport via the remote control. We need to get a group down there to show solidarity. But there still remains that thought: how comfortable would we feel at these events? I would love to go to Silverstone and see large numbers of my community watching Lewis Hamilton.'
Seizing the momentum, a group of black football stars are pioneering a project to be launched next month aiming to encourage young people from ethnic and disadvantaged backgrounds to get involved in motorsport. Former England players John Barnes, Luther Blissett and Les Ferdinand came up with the idea last November, just weeks before Hamilton was confirmed as a McLaren driver. 'When we found out about Lewis, we thought what a great time to be doing this project. We already believed he would be that good,' says Blissett. 'Lewis is someone I can really identify with as a black man. In England we have a multicultural society, but that is lacking in motor sport, which is elitist and limited in its diversity. There are a lack of black faces from drivers to mechanics. It was the same in football at one point until myself and Cyrille Regis made it common to see black faces.'
Former Tottenham striker Ferdinand sees Hamilton as a much-needed role model for young people in the black community. 'Black kids are always looking for someone to aspire to, and beyond football we have struggled to provide them with someone. Now kids will hear Lewis's story of how he got started, parents might start thinking they'll take their kids karting on the weekends.'
Eboda goes further still and sees a family model for the community to look to - the close relationship between Hamilton and his father. 'The most important thing to come out of this is Hamilton's relationship with his dad. Many of our young black kids don't have that and it may just make some fathers think again,' he says.
Adam Jones, a motor sport journalist who also runs the 100cc PR agency, which looks after young karters, has already noticed the impact Hamilton is having on the lower reaches of motor sport. 'Black drivers have always been seen as an oddity; the only one I remember is the American Willy T Ribbs from the 1980s,' says Jones. 'But Lewis Hamilton is changing trends. For the first time in my life I stood next to a rasta reading Autosport last week. And at Raleigh karting track in Essex we had a group of 70 black people turn up to race, one of them even called himself 'Lewis Hamilton' on the indemnity form. Lewis is being claimed by the black community and it could be just what the sport needs. Karting is suffering from a downturn in participation figures, kart clubs have been forced to cancel races, the traditional white families aren't turning up. So interest from the black community may just be the saving grace of motor sport grassroots.'
Three times former world champion driver Sir Jackie Stewart is president of Springfield Youth Centre, a remarkable place situated in a rundown part of east London. Over 30 years of his tenure Stewart has brought some of the biggest names in the motor racing community to this dilapidated building to meet the local residents of the area. Champion drivers such as Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill have all taken part in an annual community awards ceremony there, but even they could not match the impact Hamilton had on those gathered there last November. It was Stewart's son Paul who had asked McLaren team boss Ron Dennis to bring Hamilton down. He was a virtual unknown even then, but Sir Jackie recalls the effect Hamilton had on the young people and their families who attended the awards. 'Springfield has had a list of tremendously important people visiting,' says Stewart, 'from David Coulthard to Zara Phillips. But nobody has gelled, communicated and moulded to the evening so well as Lewis. Young children are demanding critics and they know if somebody is being false, but he struck a chord with the whole group. His colour is of course a contributor to his popularity and interest. His race is a reality, but he doesn't make an issue out of it. I feel that he wears that mantle very comfortably. He's not just a breath of fresh air but a hurricane of fresh air in this sport.
'He is such a good example of a young person who has achieved without coming from a wealthy background. Kids will see that you don't have to be tempted into damaging areas of life involving guns and drugs.' Continuing his pioneering youth work in motorsport, Sir Jackie - who still regularly attends grands prix in his capacity as a global ambassador for RBS - will host an event alongside an unlikely companion this week, the beatboxer Killa Kela. Kids from Springfield will be invited along to try out F1 racing simulators for the first time and the three fastest times will then race against Williams drivers Nico Rosberg and Alex Wurz.
With Hamilton's achievements exciting the interest of those outside the sporting world, the message is that his successes on the track could serve a purpose that transcends sport. Maxi Jazz, the singer in Faithless and a motorsport obsessive, hails Hamilton as a black hero in the mould of Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X. 'As a 50-year-old man I never thought I'd have a 22-year-old hero,' says Jazz. 'I met him last year and he shook my hand so hard he crushed it. He is manna from heaven. I want our children to be revering someone other than 50 Cent. To hear about Lewis and his dad's struggle to get somewhere, that's positive.' Jazz followed motorsport his whole life despite never having got near a track until he made money through his music career. 'When I finally got on the track in my overalls people's eyes widened like saucers to see a black man driving. But the reality is the sport is a dying breed - it's all people my age there. The government should be subsidising karting instead of going on about asbos. Kids won't have any energy for joyriding after they've been round the track. There are no affordable facilities for kids. Britain is the home of motor racing and yet we're not doing enough for the future of this sport.'
Britain's black community may wish to claim Hamilton as an icon, but the world of motor sport is keen to play down any mention of race. McLaren discourage journalists from asking Hamilton questions on the subject, and their driver is competing in a field that, unlike football or cricket, has no monitoring on ethnic minority participation or employment in its organisations. Insiders say it is not the sport that has a problem discussing race, rather it is those in charge at McLaren.
Even at the grassroots level of the sport, the karting tracks in Kent, London and Hertfordshire where Hamilton first learned his trade, many were reluctant to discuss the issue and instead gave the improbable line that they 'never see colour'. It is a view that does not stand for many in the black community. 'People who say they don't see colour, well that's the politically correct answer,' says Hinds. 'Maybe Lewis is pricking a conscience. People don't like to talk about colour, but there's no getting away from it - his colour is fantastic for us as a community.' No matter the view of the authorities, Hamilton's father has been in touch with Hinds and has made it clear that he wishes Lewis to keep in contact with the community; and Lewis himself appearing on MTV Base and talking about black political music icons Bob Marley, Marvin Gaye and the American rapper Nas is highly suggestive of the identity he wishes to align himself with. To Ferdinand the issue is simple. 'They [McLaren] don't want Lewis's success to be seen as a black thing. However we as black people want something to aspire to and Lewis is it.'
Aspire they may, but for the moment motorsport - even at karting level - remains prohibitively expensive. McLaren's investment in Hamilton's development is estimated at around £20m - even a kid's introductory half-hour session in a kart costs £30. Colin Hilton, chief executive of Britain's motor racing governing body the Motor Sports Association (MSA), says the government is considering investment in grassroots motor racing and in order to recruit government support they will need to fulfil certain criteria - including ethnic minority representation. It may be a timely chivvy. There are other initiatives too, such as the British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC) 'Stars of Tomorrow' that brings karting to local communities via Sainsbury's car parks and school playgrounds.
Will it be enough though? Hilton says the MSA are looking at ways to increase grassroots participation but that they can do little to reduce prices charged by commercial karting outlets. But as long as prices remain high at entry level, however great the interest from the black community, it is surely in doubt whether the next Lewis Hamilton will be along in any hurry.