During his early days fighting for championships, Hamilton found it difficult to enjoy racing. He told GQ: “When I first got into Formula One, it was wake up, train, racing-racing-racing–racing, nothing else. There’s no space for anything else. But what I realised is that just working all the time doesn’t bring you happiness, and you need to find a balance in life. And I found out that I was actually quite unhappy.

“There was so much missing, there was so much more to me. And it was crazy, because I was like: I’m in Formula One, I reached my dream, and I’m where I always wanted to be, I’m on top, I’m fighting for the championship. But I was just not – it was not enjoyable.”

The answer for Hamilton was self-expression. “I think if you go to an office every day and do the same process every single day, eventually you just zone out. You have to find something else that can soothe you, can keep your mind going,” he said. The seven-time champion started with tattoos and jewellery, then moved to music and fashion – despite pundits and critics labelling it a distraction, and not something an F1 driver should be seen doing.

“My mind is always moving,” Hamilton said. “I have really, really vivid dreams; I have to wake up and write them down. I’ll have visions of something I’m designing. Or sometimes it’s music. Sometimes I have a song playing in my head. I’ll get up and go downstairs, play it on the piano, record it, and it becomes a part of something that I’m doing.