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LONDON: Lewis Hamilton's story is one of triumph against adversity, a motor racing great who came from humble origins and conquered the world.
That is something else the Briton shares with 1950s champion Juan Manuel Fangio, the late Argentina whose five Formula One titles the Mercedes driver equals on Sunday and who remains for the greatest.
Hamilton's paternal grandfather Davidson arrived in Britain as an immigrant from the Caribbean island of Grenada in the 1950s and worked on the London Underground public transportation system.
Fangio's grandfather Giuseppe was a poor holding farmer who emigrated from central Italy to the pampas of Argentina in 1887 and eventually earned enough money to bring about the rest of his family.
While Hamilton grew up idolizing Ayrton Senna, the Brazilian late boyhood was Fangio.
"Even if I or someone else can equal or beat Fangio's record, it still will not compare with his achievement," Senna once said.
There is no silver spoon in Fangio's or Hamilton's background, no history of wealth or privilege and nothing to suggest or one day one step in the gilded world of great price racing and flourish.
In Fangio's case, motor racing was in its infancy with the Argentine farm laborer's born in 1911 and the Formula One world championship starting 1950.
Nicknamed "Chueco" from his boyhood football days, the unassuming and softly-spoken Argentina arrived in Europe in the late 1940s with little reputation for long distance races on dirt roads in South America.
The balding maestro made his mark, however, taking the 1951 world championship at the age of 40 and going on to dominate that most dangerous of decades with titles in 1954, 1955, 1956 and 1957.
Alfa Romeo, Mercedes, Ferrari, and Maserati – Still in the same category.
He won 24 of the 51 Formula One races he entered, in an era when there were six or seven races in a season compared to today's 21, for a 46.15 percent victory rate.
Hamilton has won 71 of 227 races, his fifth championship coming from the age of 33 and a decade on the first.
An error occurred while traveling to Paris in 1952 he was racing at Monza.
Even in an age of chivalry, he was an elegant driver who helped rivals and raced fairly. He rarely, if ever, engaged in argument.
"In my view Juan Manuel Fangio was the best, but then I am biased." I drove with him and against him, "Great British Stirling Moss Oss.
"I beat him once in F1, at Aintree in 1958, but I'm not sure he was a man, he was humble, a great champion, and a gentleman."
Hamilton, too, is one of the greats, and he knows where Fangio stands in the overall pantheon.
"He's the godfather for us," Hamilton told reporters in Texas when he had his first chance of wrapping up a fifth title.
"It's crazy to think that I'm embarking on a similar number of championships that he had."
(Alan Baldwin reporting, editing by Ed Osmond)
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