There is no better story in sport than a rookie who wins big. And there is no more predictable follow-up than the difficult second year, where performances do not flow quite so freely, the gentlemen of the press take a bite out of this erstwhile hero and the public decides that success has gone to his head.

Lewis Hamilton has been living out the script to the letter this year. An ill-advised announcement that he was moving to Switzerland over the winter got things off to an awkward start. He appeared to say he was moving because he was tired of being hounded by paparazzi and fans, but a few days later he launched a book about his astonishing first year in the sport. In marketing, he was in effect, asking those same fans to purchase it.