It is crazy, but he believed so much in me," Lewis Hamilton tells PEOPLE Lewis Hamilton's racing ... He says, "He's the real hero, but obviously I'm the one that gets to stand on top of the ...

Hamilton told PEOPLE he also owes his success to his dad, who he claimed "never doubted me once." Calling Anthony his "real hero," he explained, "my dad, he never went out. He never had new clothes.

F1 director Joseph Kosinski has said world champion Lewis Hamilton was instrumental in offering "insight into what it is that drives" people like ... knew how to drive in real life.