Lewis Hamilton today revealed he is already making plans for life after Formula One, by swapping the racetrack for the big screen.

The McLaren driver likes the idea of carving out a career as a movie star and has already enjoyed his taste of acting in TV commercials.

"This is one of the cool things about my job," said the 23-year-old ahead of this weekend's British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

"You arrive on the scene and they say this is what you've got to do and I'm like, 'Wow, I'm an actor!'

"I'm very much into films and I'm very fond of actors, so I might try acting in the future.

"When I meet actors I ask them for a bit of advice.

"I was speaking to [Hollywood film star] Will Smith last week and I asked him how you do what you do and he was like, 'Man, I just get out there and I do it'.

"I'm a huge fan of Will. Growing up I was always watching him in the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air."

Hamilton, who goes into the ninth round of the season trailing championship leader Felipe Massa by 10 points, added: "At the moment my focus is on the racing, I've still got a lot to achieve there.

"But I'm sure in the future opportunities will arise."

Meanwhile, Massa is bracing himself for a fierce challenge from the McLarens of Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen on Sunday.

Although he led team-mate Kimi Raikkonen to a convincing Ferrari one-two in France last week, Massa insisted he would not fall into the trap of underestimating McLaren.

He said: "We never saw the pace of the McLarens as they were always stuck in traffic, having started behind.

"So we cannot say we were so much stronger than them."