If you are familiar with Never Mind the Buzzcocks, the television game show, you will be able to visualise this one. Lewis Hamilton is trying to remember the most famous music in motor racing, the old theme tune to Formula One on BBC Television in the great days of men such as Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill.

Surprisingly the guitar-playing McLaren Mercedes driver who is earning £75million over the next five seasons cannot quite think of it. “Er, which one is that,” he asks, wiping a bead of sweat off his brow in the intense heat at the Sepang circuit outside Kuala Lumpur.

Cue singing of debatable quality from your correspondent, who starts with the bass line from the Fleetwood Mac classic, The Chain, along the lines of: “Dum, dum-dum-dum, dum-dum, dum-dum-dum, dummm ...”

Hamilton, who minutes earlier had been thrashing round the track setting the fastest time of the day, looks mystified for a second and suddenly breaks into a grin signalling recognition. “Oh yes,” he says, throwing his head back. Of course, he knows the tune. He even plays it on his electric guitar that he takes with him round the world.

Being busy trying to win his second successive race of the new season, Britain's new superstar of Formula One was only vaguely aware that the BBC had won back the rights to televise his sport from the beginning of next season. He had no idea, either, that news of the five-year deal had prompted an instant debate on the internet and in the media about whether the corporation should revive its famous theme music, which was not used by ITV.

Hamilton thought about it for a second and suggested a modern version might be the way ahead, something a little more in keeping with the times. The purists would no doubt be horrified at the thought. “It was very, very cool back in those days,” he said, referring to 1996, the last season when The Chain was in use, when Hamilton was a mere boy of 12.

“I don't know whether it will still have the same effect. For me growing up watching it, that was when [Damon] Hill was driving and it was the early [Michael] Schumacher races. It would be interesting. They could do it. They could redo the tune, you know, a little bit more up to date.”

The thought never occurred at the time and, in any case, the ever-efficient McLaren PR woman was intervening to say our five minutes with the World Championship leader was up, but wouldn't it be something to get Hamilton to play the lead on his own guitar? That would certainly “modernise” the theme tune for the BBC's new coverage.

To his credit Hamilton, whose diplomatic skills would not go amiss in the Foreign Office, was not going to let the subject drop without paying tribute to the ITV team led by James Allen, the commentator. They covered his championship-winning year in the GP2 Series in 2006 and then his spectacular rookie season in Formula One last year, when he came within a whisker of becoming world champion. “I am really sorry to see them go because working with them has been a real pleasure,” he said. “But I welcome the BBC and I'm sure it will be a new challenge, a new prospect working with them.”

Theme tunes aside, Hamilton had another productive day on the track as he and his 21 rivals prepared for qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix today and the race itself tomorrow. Hamilton went fastest in the final minutes of the second session, prompting gibes at Ferrari that he managed it only by running light. “How much fuel did Hamilton have - nobody knows,” was how one source in the Scuderia put it.

To give them their due, the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen, the world champion, looked quick all day when they were actually running on the track. In the morning session, Raikkonen's car completed only eight laps when it inexplicably ran out of petrol after what was called a miscommunication between the garage and the pitwall team. “We f***ed up,” was how one insider put it.

Hamilton was confident of his chances this weekend, but he acknowledged that it will be tight. “This time last week, we were in a similar spot where Ferrari was fast and we were fast,” he said. “It was close, the long runs looked similar, the fastest laps were quite similar. It's really difficult to say too much from today. All I can say is I feel comfortable in the car, I have a good set-up and balance and no problems with performance.”

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