In an ideal world, Lewis Hamilton would be able to shut himself away from the prying eyes of the media for the rest of this week, retreat back into his family circle and the company of his trusted colleagues, and concentrate on clearing his mind for Sunday’s critical Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai.

Then perhaps he might have a chance to restore his balance and his confidence in his ability to close out the Formula One World Championship at only the second attempt.

The reality for Hamilton, however, is slightly different. After a day or two off in Tokyo, he will find himself thrown back to the wolves, with appearances and interviews all the way to the grid in Shanghai.

Does he regret the way he drove in Japan? Does he agree with those who say he chokes under pressure? Does he feel it was wrong to accuse Felipe Massa of deliberately crashing into him? Is he good enough to be champion? How is he going to approach the race in China? Is he worried that he has handed the initiative to Massa and Ferrari? Is he haunted by what happened this time last year?

In truth, one of Hamilton’s outstanding qualities is his ability to bounce back from even the most heart-stopping failures, something his father, Anthony, drilled into him as a boy when he raced go-karts. “Always take the positives from a bad weekend,” was the mantra and Hamilton learnt his lesson well. So he is likely to get back in the zone to some extent but there is not much time and even he is going to struggle to deal with the pressure.

After leaving Japan with no points after his first-corner impetuosity at the Fuji Speedway, which earned him a penalty for pushing Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen off the track, the big danger for Hamilton in China is that he and McLaren will swing too far in the opposite direction. The watchwords in his mental prep are likely to be “patience”, staying “calm”, the “long-game” - everything Hamilton forgot about in Japan when he drove more like a kamikaze pilot than a Formula One title leader.

The problem with this is that caution and biding his time is not Hamilton’s natural style in the cockpit. He is an exuberant racer, a born fighter and a competitor who thrives on the cut and thrust of wheel-to-wheel combat. Trying to suppress those instincts could turn out to be as disastrous as surrending to them so abjectly proved at Fuji.

Hamilton and his inner circle - his father, his race engineer, Phil Prew, and the McLaren team managers - have got to strike the right balance. He must fight in China but not lose his head if someone - anyone, in fact - overtakes him.

Ferrari, of course, will not miss a trick on Sunday. They may be a little more friendly on the surface since Jean Todt, their former team principal, surrendered his secretive empire to his successor, Stefano Domenicali, but there is still no more ruthless an outfit in the paddock. They will be plotting Hamilton’s downfall with the all the cynicism they can muster.

The plan will be to try to provoke Hamilton into making more errors, probably using Raikkonen as their main weapon.

Hamilton must prevail this year after all the talk and the hype that has attended his every move since coming into the sport. Failure in the “stretch” for a second time will leave both him and McLaren with some heavy pyschological baggage to lump around next season and the danger that a thrilling young talent will be dismissed as a “nearly man”.

The 23-year-old multi-millionaire, who lives in from tax exile in Geneva, was keeping a low profile in Tokyo today. In remarks attributed to him on his website he said little about his travails on Sunday. In all his comments he seemed a little defensive but, in the circumstances, that is hardly surprising. He was asked whether it was true that he believes he is a better driver than his hero, the late Ayrton Senna.

“I never said that - and I definitely wouldn’t say it about Ayrton because he’s my favourite driver,” Hamilton, who may wish he had never mentioned his admiration for Senna, said. “He’s the best driver there ever was and, to this day, I still don’t believe anyone would beat him. If I could achieve just a small part of what he’s achieved, it would be a dream for me.”

Like Senna before him, Hamilton is already a worldwide sporting icon. This weekend in China he will take another step towards confirming his greatness or underlining his fatal flaw.