It is at this stage of the season that things get nasty for Lewis Hamilton. This time last year, as he was advancing towards what looked likely to be an historic rookie World Championship in Formula One, his rivals started ganging up on him and he memorably remarked that when he walked into a drivers' briefing here they were waiting “with rifles, ready to shoot me”.

Twelve months on it is happening again. The official pre-race press conference yesterday had the unpleasant atmosphere of a bullying session in a multimillionaire's playground. If this is anything to go by, then the McLaren Mercedes driver - five points clear with two races to go - is going to be shown no quarter on the track at the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday as he tries to close out the championship at the second time of asking.

Sitting alongside Hamilton was Robert Kubica, the BMW Sauber driver, who has recently accused the Briton of dangerous and overconfident driving; behind him sat Kimi Raikkonen, of Ferrari, who has never made any effort to help Hamilton when under attack; and next to Raikkonen was Hamilton's arch enemy, Fernando Alonso, who dislikes the championship leader intensely and is doing his utmost to increase the psychological pressure on him.

Alonso said this week that he will do what he can to help Felipe Massa, Raikkonen's Ferrari team-mate and Hamilton's nearest challenger, to win the title and there was no retraction yesterday as he sat a few feet from the McLaren driver. Throughout the session there was unmistakable animosity towards Hamilton, whom most of his rivals regard as an upstart who is behaving like the champion most of them fervently hope he will never become.

While the others discussed their driving and, in Alonso's case, his preference for either Massa or Kubica as champion, Hamilton looked uneasy. He sat staring into space, his arms firmly folded and his right hand kneading the skin at his left elbow.

The FIA, which organises these official set-piece events, arranged this one with Hamilton's discomfort very much in mind. As part of its service to the media, the governing body offers a verbatim transcript which, in this case, only underlines that the unpleasantness directed at Hamilton was more to do with what was left unsaid than what was said.

For example, the other three drivers were asked towards the end of the session whether it was true that they and Hamilton's other rivals on the grid are envious because Hamilton is leading the championship and because “wherever you go, he seems to be the biggest star”. This could have been an opportunity for some to say, perhaps, that they have nothing against Hamilton, that he is a good guy who has done a lot for the sport and so on. But after a long gap during which none of the drivers said anything, they each conspicuously passed up the opportunity.

“I'm pretty happy with what I'm doing, so I'm fine,” Kubica said, smugly. “I'm very happy,” Alonso said, with heavy emphasis on the “very”. Then Raikkonen rounded it off: “I'm very happy with my life - I wouldn't change it.”

Watching this, you got a sense of how isolated Hamilton must feel in this biggest of big boys' games. No one expects rival drivers to be friends, but they do not like him and that is an important factor counting against him. He has got to win against them and in the teeth of their contempt, much as Michael Schumacher did before him.

At the same time Hamilton has the media and many fans of rival drivers accusing him of choking after his errors at the start of the Japanese Grand Prix last weekend, when a rash move on Raikkonen led to him being penalised and finishing outside the points.

People ask whether Hamilton is overpaid at nearly £100 million over five years. A better question is whether he is being paid enough; you would not want, aptly enough, all the tea in China to be in his driving suit as he stands, once again, on the threshold of achieving his dream.

Although he looked tense and sounded defensive, Hamilton's words appeared to reflect his confidence. “Not really,” he said when it was put to him that the pressure must be too hot to handle. “Part of that pressure comes from you guys writing good things about me and building me up. I don't think that is a negative thing.

“The fact is I have come in and gone straight to the top and have done well and been competitive for two years. I don't see it as a huge pressure. Some people want me to succeed, some don't. The fact is I am at the front and so I can do it and people know I can do it. That's the only pressure.”

Raikkonen is famous for offering little when interviewed in English. Yesterday, however, the Finn, whose defence of his title is already over but who could yet play a key role in determining his successor, summarised Hamilton's predicament perfectly. “You can win a lot and lose a lot in the last two races,” he said.

Next year's French Grand Prix has been cancelled because of financial pressures, the French Motorsport Federation confirmed yesterday. This leaves 17 races scheduled for 2009 after the Canadian Grand Prix was dropped because of contractual difficulties.