Lewis Hamilton is beginning to understand winning races is only one part of the job for a modern Formula One driver. As well as personal appearances there are the advertising endorsements, photo shoots, press interviews and autograph sessions. At the Goodwood Festival of Speed last month a 65,000-strong crowd cheered him in the rain while he stood, like royalty, on the balcony of Goodwood House, and he is preparing to be mobbed at this weekend's British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
So how is he coping with being the most famous sportsman in Britain? "It's a bit weird," he says. "I first noticed it after the [third] GP in Bahrain. Simple things like going out for dinner, to the cinema or the petrol station are not the same and I get more people coming up to me.
"It's like a rollercoaster. I've been working for 13 years and now I'm getting a podium in my first race and winning two others but it [the attention] is a lot more than I expected.
"The worst thing about it is losing your privacy. I am trying to deal with it at the moment, but I don't know the best way to do it. I am just trying to keep my head down, keep myself to myself and don't do anything lairy." He claims not really to read the newspaper coverage of himself "except to check out the pictures, make sure I still look good".
He may be relieved he didn't read coverage last week. Under the headline "Spying claims may destroy Hamilton's title dreams" The Times reported that Hamilton's chances of becoming F1 champion in his rookie season were under threat after a leading member of his team was accused of espionage against Ferrari, McLaren's main rival. Allegedly, McLaren's chief designer was interviewed by police after Ferrari complained about the theft of technical information from its factory in Maranello, Italy.
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The dispute could have serious implications if the FIA, the governing body, is forced to intervene but at the moment it is a distant cloud on Hamilton's otherwise sunny horizon.
With a salary reported to be a £340,000 a year (modest compared with that of his teammate Fernando Alonso, who reputedly earns £10m, but not bad for a 22-year-old) he has upgraded his "off duty" car from a Smart Brabus to a Mercedes GL 4x4 and there is speculation that he is contemplating a move from Hertfordshire to Monaco. Still, he remains relatively frugal. "I don't seem to carry any money in my wallet, I don't know why. I always have to borrow money from my dad," he says. "I don't like to waste money. For instance the last money I spent was on a remote control car so I could play with my brother and that was about £200, so even that wasn't so expensive."
His success and possibly the fact that he is the first black F1 driver has spawned a posse of celebrity admirers such as Pharrell Williams, the rapper and producer. "That's got to be one the coolest things, getting to meet people like him," says Hamilton. "He was a guest of mine for the weekend [at the US Grand Prix] and I had dinner with him on the Saturday night. I met Beyoncé recently, too. She's fantastic, she invited me to her concert at Wembley, phenomenal."
If all these things are not to fade, however, Hamilton will have to continue to dominate on the racetrack. Last week Sir Jackie Stewart, the three-time F1 champion and spokesman for the RBS Grand Prix Challenge, which is aimed at encouraging younger drivers into Formula One, cautioned against complacency: "Three months ago I was asked if Lewis could win the championship and I said that it was feasible but unlikely. Now I say it's feasible but it's more likely. But the one thing that all up and coming stars have in common is potential. Whether they deliver over the long term is what counts and that's still to be proven."
Ever since he famously approached Ron Dennis, boss at McLaren, as a nine-year-old kart racer and told him he would one day race for him, Hamilton has been nurtured through the team's system (McLaren actually signed him when he was 13). In many ways he is the embodiment of a new era in racing: Hamilton says that he rarely drinks and would rather go out for dinner than hit a nightclub.
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The intensity of his training is astonishing. High-tech telemetric read-outs enable the driver and engineers to refine lap times down by fractions of a second, while racing simulators and 3-D virtual reality cars mean drivers can know a circuit off by heart without having driven it for real. Some reports have claimed Hamilton has spent thousands of hours in such a simulator at the McLaren base in Woking, although Hamilton downplays its influence. To sharpen his responses McLaren has employed Kerry Spackman, a consultant whose techniques are based on neuroscience research and on how individual modules in the brain - such as the visual processing system - function.
The thoroughness of the training reveals itself not only in Hamilton's spectacular start to his first season, but also in his quiet confidence. "Every racing driver has a great deal of self belief," he says, adding that he is unfazed by the Formula One circus. "The big transition is from karts to single seaters. That's the biggest step up."
Despite this he is cautious about predicting too far into the future. "Obviously I feel there is an opportunity there to win [the drivers' title], but I have to be realistic; it is still my first season. We have had two wins and eight podiums but there are going to be some races where I don't finish on the podium. I mean I hope that's not the case, but . . ."
He is diplomatic about his relationship with Alonso, who has been put in the shade by his sensational form. "The media try and twist things. But we get on really well, we play PlayStation together and he congratulated me after my win in America."
And what will he be thinking should he find himself in a neck and neck race to the finish with his teammate at Silverstone today? "Simple," he says. "Don't let him pass. Don't let him pass no matter what."
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On his CD changer
Bob Marley and the Wailers, Damian Marley, Ziggy Marley- all the Marleys -Marvin Gaye and Beyoncé. She's such a great performer