Lewis Hamilton’s interviews in recent weeks reflect the surreal paradoxes in the life that the 22-year-old now leads. He has money and fame coming out of his ears but also severe constraints on what he can say, where he can go and how he can behave. Much will now depend on how he copes with the rules of the corporate game in which he is now enmeshed.

It is not just the fact that he has been steered to Switzerland from his home town of Stevenage to minimise his tax bill (spun as an attempt to elude intrusive fans and paparazzi). Or that he has had to turn down a chance to meet Nelson Mandela in South Africa on World Aids Day so that he can attend a corporate event in Germany.

The more insidious aspect of life in the fast lane is that he has had to learn the art of deflecting any question that might have an impact on the sanitised image of his corporate clients. Is it any wonder that some within the media have started to complain about the blandness of his public persona?

Hamilton’s reticence extends to his relationship with Naomi Campbell, the supermodel, although most outside the red-top papers would accept that he is entitled to a private life. But can that argument legitimately be applied to Hamilton’s sidestepping of questions about the tensions within the McLaren Mercedes team last season or his attitude to Fernando Alonso, his former team-mate?

Despite this enforced diplomacy, there is one aspect of the Hamilton persona that shines through: his insane competitiveness. His desire to achieve lasting greatness in Formula One is palpable. It is as if, like so many great sportsmen, he regards sporting immortality as part of his destiny. It is this, more than anything else, that will anchor the youngster as he confronts the distractions and temptations.

It is difficult not to be reminded of Tiger Woods, who has learnt to play the corporate game with aplomb, but whose most profound desire is to usurp Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18 major golf titles. While saying the right things in the right way — something that has taken him a long way to becoming the world’s first billionaire sportsman — Woods has never lost sight of the most basic imperative of all: winning major championships.

If Hamilton is finding the constraints of his new lifestyle vexing, we have yet to glimpse it. That his father is close to the decision-making process is perhaps the best guarantee that the corporate demands are never allowed to overwhelm him. But that will not stop the public from wondering what really makes him tick, what really lies beneath the slick exterior. Thus far at least, Hamilton is an enigma wrapped in logo-emblazoned overalls.