Driving on to destiny

But, tonight, as he closes his eyes and dreams for perhaps the last time of his all-consuming ambition, his preparations are beset by controversy.

He spent yesterday evening with the stewards explaining away his 'erratic' driving in the last race in Japan, with photographers and TV cameramen pressing their lenses against the window of the room where he made his case.

He sat next to the drivers who crashed out in the Fuji rain, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. Then, when their stories had been told and after shaking hands with Vettel, he and McLaren team manager Dave Ryan argued why he had been braking to milk-float speed behind the safety car.

Hamilton watched the footage on the screen and spoke in his defence. He won the day and takes his 12-point lead over Fernando Alonso into tomorrow's storm-threatened Chinese Grand Prix.

If he beats his team-mate, the title is his. Even if he is fifth yet only a point behind the Spaniard, he wins. The odds are good.

But, just as the 22-year-old rookie was forced to defend himself in front of the stewards, the very worth of motor racing's loftiest throne was called into question.

Spygate, the saga built on McLaren being privy to Ferrari technical secrets, resulted in the British team being fined £50million. It also sparked the argument of why, if McLaren were thrown out of the constructors' championship, the drivers were allowed to race on.

Ferrari president Luca de Montezemolo claimed a Hamilton title would be tainted. Hamilton argued not, saying: "No. I came from the GP2 season, finally given my opportunity in F1 with the team I had always dreamed of being with. I finally got here and I knew the guys so well and was confident in their abilities. For the last 15 years, watching Formula One, there has been no need for them ever to cheat. I've seen how hard people work. I have no need to cheat. I'm not going to win the world championship because my car is much quicker than the Ferraris.

"We've had some tough battles and we've done a better job with reliability. Some races the Ferraris have won; some races we've bounced back and beaten them. If we'd cheated we'd have won every race. I've come to Shanghai and I don't think 'Shoot, we've been accused of cheating'. I come here knowing that the car has been put together by an honest group of guys working their arses off.

"And when I got here I know I had prepared to do the best job I can. It's easy to do my job given the way I feel about it. There's nothing anyone can do or say to change the way I feel about the issue, so it doesn't matter."

Hamilton's near blind faith is perhaps less well-founded than the strident assertion, made with logicality, that the drivers should be expelled. Or else, the argument goes, they are profiting from the same ill-gotten gains as the team.

But let's not dwell on that unduly now. The real measure of Hamilton's achievement is that he is taking Alonso on in the same car. Alonso, after all, is the man who outperformed Michael Schumacher in 2006 and 2007.

That is a mighty accolade as he comes to the brink of ending Britain's 11-year wait to reclaim the prize Damon Hill won in 1996. He appears supremely calm. Has he woken in the night and sat bolt upright at the magnitude of his task?

"No, I really haven't," he said. "I've been just as relaxed as last week. I don't know why that is. I don't have an answer. I'm just not worried.

"My preparation will be the same as in the last race. It was the best race I have ever done in my life. And considering that I've only been out in the rain in a Formula One car a few times, I even surprised myself.

"They were such tricky conditions with everything going on that I was really happy with the way I coped. I showed that I'm not the rookie everybody expected me to be."

Four wins from 15 races and 12 podiums is better than anyone else has ever achieved, including Schumacher, Juan Manuel Fangio and, more recently, Alonso.

In free practice, Hamilton was fourth in both sessions. Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, 17 points off the lead in the title race, was quickest both times. Alonso and Felipe Massa were second and third throughout. However, there was little to separate the four.

There is a cool poise to Hamilton. I first interviewed him last May when he was beginning to turn heads in GP2. He was polite and modest — and ultra-confident and ambitious. It hit you like a wave.

He said then: "Ayrton Senna was the coolest, smoothest, most determined- to-win driver I've ever seen. I can relate to that. I feel I have a lot in common with him and that's probably why it clicked early on. He was world champion. He was the man. That's what I want to be."

At an ungodly hour of the British Sabbath, his wish should be granted.