Hamilton’s return to Rye House Kart Raceway served as a useful reminder of how far he has come, but tough times lie ahead as he battles Nico Rosberg for the Formula One title

At the Rye House Kart Raceway, where it all started for Lewis Hamilton, he glistened like a monarch once more. His season may be in danger of collapsing into a sinkhole, especially if he fails to break the momentum of his remorseless rival, Nico Rosberg, at Sunday’s British Grand Prix, but in the small, commuter-scurrying Lea Valley town of Hoddesdon he will always be the greatest driver in the world.

“It’s very cool to be back here,” Hamilton says. “It brings a lot of memories back, a lot of great memories. It was 21 years ago now, which sounds ridiculous. I remember my first day here, my first crash here, I remember when Ayrton [Senna] died and I was here. I remember my Dad standing on the corner. I remember being in the little pond in the middle, which was dried up and muddy and not a real pond.”

Now aged 29, Hamilton may appear a little young for nostalgia’s sentimental glow, for Housman’s blue remembered hills, but the Rye House Kart Raceway provided the soundtrack for much of his childhood. And now it reminds him of just how far he has come, as a world champion, the fastest driver in F1, as well as the sport’s biggest box-office attraction.

He reminded himself of karting, too, by taking on some children, competition winners and even Formula One reporters, as if he really needed a confidence-booster. But, born racer that he is, Hamilton revelled in the afternoon. “I do miss the simplicity of it because it’s just you and the kart,” he says. “Now it’s tyres, tyre degradation, it’s brakes, it’s fuel saving, it’s all the different modes, the switches, the pit stops, the start. It’s a lot different.”

Speaking of how his father got him into karting, Hamilton adds: “He would find the quickest guy, either Mike Spencer – that’s his green helmet over there – or another called Niki Richardson, who was British champion at the time. He had John Button engines and they were so fast compared to everyone else’s.

“Dad would find where Niki was braking and he would walk a few metres later and make me brake there, and that’s how I became a late braker. Eventually I realised I could brake even later than everyone else.

“I was just faster. I don’t really know what else to say. Some of them had more money than us. They were all quick but I somehow just beat them, as unhappy as their parents would get. Parents get so aggressive, they’re so involved. One of the kids, Chris Rodgers, his dad was a mechanic. Spence’s dad was a mechanic, and it becomes a battle of the families as well. Eventually you need to be faster. That’s what got us to places, because by showing that progress eventually people would sponsor the chassis, or give us decent parts.”

Hamilton adds: “My dad said in the first year we spent £20,000. He put my stepmum’s life savings, his life savings, remortgaged the house, just for that year. I’ve heard it’s more expensive now. A lot of talent disappears.

“My mum gave up their idea of going shopping and getting nice new purses or clothes, and what women like to do, just to keep me racing. She would be in the back of this box trailer we had next to a gas fire, sitting with my brother on her lap, and with a Pot Noodle. It was Knorr chicken noodles. It was the best. We had it every race weekend.”

Hamilton, in a totally relaxed mood, continues to drift back in time, to when his parents knew someone who built model boats. “He also had a remote-controlled car. He was driving it out in the street, and he let me drive it, and I was amazing at it. My dad couldn’t believe that I was so fast, he couldn’t believe that I could do it. That’s when he got the idea to buy me a real one.

“My dad and I used to go to a piece of farmland and race these remote-controlled cars. I was beating people who are my age now – even your age,” he says, looking at us doubtfully. “I was beating adults and I was five years old.”

Getting Hamilton to talk about the upcoming British Grand Prix feels akin to bringing him out of hypnosis. “I’m definitely gunning for Silverstone,” he says. “Last year I was more hopeful than ever since I won at Silverstone [in his Formula One championship-winning year of 2008].

“It was definitely gutting to not win, to not bring it home for the country and for the fans, although I came through from last to fourth. We have another chance this year and I’ll be doing absolutely everything to make sure we’re in front.”

Still in recollective reverie, he remembers meeting team-mate and current, somewhat bitter, rival Rosberg as a boy in Italy. “We were talking about how cool it would be, one day, if we were in Formula One, just how cool it would be to be team-mates. We said it several times,” says Hamilton.

“I can’t remember back then if I believed it. Nico would say ‘when I’m in Formula One’, and for me it was ‘if I ever get to Formula One’. Because obviously Nico’s dad was a Formula One driver – he knew he was going to make it. For us, we never really knew what was going to happen, we just kept at it.”

But Hamilton needs to keep at it if he is to win the title this year. He is 29 points behind Rosberg in the drivers’ championship, to whom he has lost ground in the past three races. Quite simply, Hamilton badly needs a victory at Silverstone.

But how will the fastest driver in F1 – with the fastest car beneath him – feel if he fails to win the title? “That’s not really something I want to think about,” Hamilton replies. “Why would I even consider it? It’s all about positive energy. I’m going to get up and I’m going to train and get to that race next week and be P1, P1, P1. Positive thoughts create positive actions.”

Negative thoughts are beginning to leak into the minds of even Hamilton supporters. But he will always be the champion racer at the Rye House Kart Raceway.