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Lewis Hamilton’s memories flooded back as he stood on the balcony overlooking the kart circuit where it all began.

Mercedes’ ace racer pointed to the empty competitor’s car park overshadowed by the three towers of Rye House Power Station in Ratty’s Lane.

“I was over there when my dad told me my hero Ayrton Senna had been killed. I went behind a car because I didn’t want him to see me cry. I was nine.”

This is a world away from the leviathan that is Silverstone where, on Sunday, Hamilton wants – and needs - to resuscitate his world title hopes with a 25 point victory.

Jammed between Hertfordshire Sewage Works and Hoddesdon tip this demanding little kart circuit has been the place where many of Britain’s emerging racing stars have taken their first tottering steps: Hamilton and Johnny Herbert among them.

Lewis Hamilton races our F1 man Byron Young ahead of the British Grand Prix - and he's quick!

No champagne here, just burgers and tea. And dreams.

One such dreamer arrived by chauffeur-driven Mercedes having jetted in to Britain from his lavish Monte Carlo apartment in his latest toy, a £25m Candy red jet.

“It’s very cool to be back,” said Hamilton. “It brings a lot of memories back, a lot of great memories.”

He pointed to a glass cabinet. “I remember that helmet, it belonged to one of the kids I used to race. Chris Rodgers,” he said.

“Wow, that was 21 years ago now. I remember my first day here, my first crash.

“I remember going into the little pond in the middle quite often when I spun off.“

He has come a long way. Now the main straight is named after him and his own helmet is in pride of place in the entrance.

But as an eight year-old sleeping on his father’s sofa shortly after his parent’s divorce, F1 success seemed an impossible dream. Father, Anthony, still chased it with all his might, at times holding down four jobs.

“My Dad said in the first year we spent £20,000. He put my step-mum’s life savings, his life savings and re-mortgaged the house just for that year,” he added

“It’s a huge gamble and it’s a huge commitment. A lot of people do that and don’t get the end result I did.

“My Dad and Linda just gave up their idea of going shopping and getting things like nice new clothes and all the things women do, to keep me racing.

“She would be in the back of this box trailer next to a gas fire sitting with my brother on her lap, and a pot of Noor chicken noodle. It was the best. We had it every race weekend.”

I asked if he realised at the time, the scale of the gamble.

“I was eight. I didn’t know what money was. I found some money under the counter at the store a couple times and I would use it to buy sweets!”

(Image: Mathias Kniepeiss)

Those karts had 20 brake horse power, his current Mercedes racer boasts in the region of 700.

Hamilton raced Rosberg in karts but said the German was not his greatest rival. The man he named is injured Pole Robert Kubica.

But now Rosberg certainly is: his Mercedes teammate leads by 29 points going to Sunday's British Grand Prix, the halfway marker in the season.

The championship has evolved into a two-way duel between the German who has polished, through sheer application, his far from exceptional talents as a racer, and one of the most naturally gifted men to race in F1.

Unfortunately for that man, Hamilton, this is the era of the most complex cars in the sport’s history. Talent will only take you so far.

His steering wheel alone has a bewildering array of buttons and switches with more than 100 functions.

Knowing which to flick when could be the key to glory in modern F1.

“I do miss the simplicity,” admitted Hamilton. “It’s just you and the kart.

“Karting was just so much fun, because it’s wheel to wheel racing. It was just you, the kart, and a bit of the strategy with the tyres.

“Now it’s tyres, tyre degradation, its brakes, its fuel saving, it’s all the different modes, the switches, the pit stops, the start. It’s a lot different.”

(Image: Mark Thompson)

Hamilton’s natural gift and how he achieves the lap times is now laid bare for the world, and particularly Rosberg, to see on the data traces.

“Back in the karting days we didn’t really have data,” he said.

“They can’t ever see how you drive, apart from on the track. They might follow your line but it’s harder to follow on the line than it is to look on data. When you get the data it’s like showing someone’s mathematics equation.”

So the margins have reduced and, in Rosberg, Hamilton faces a real rival happy to work as hard as it takes to make up for what he lacks to Hamilton.

The threat from Rosberg is not a new one for the 2008 champion who beat him to a world kart title when they were teenagers.

“I can’t remember back then if I believed,” said Hamilton.

“Nico would say ‘when I’m in F1’ and for me it was ‘if I ever get to F1’ because his dad was a Formula One driver.

“He knew he was going to make it. We never really knew what was going to happen, we just kept at it.”

Failure was not an option.

And this weekend, given his 29 point deficit, another defeat is not worth contemplating.

“That’s not really something I want to think about or put out there,” said Hamilton.

“Why would I even consider it? It’s all about positive energy.”

“You’ve got to have in your mind I’m going to win. I’m going to do everything that I can. I’m going to get up and I’m going to train and get to that race next week and be P1, P1, P1.

“You can’t ever think what if this or that, because you’ll never get anywhere. What is it they say? Positive thoughts create positive actions.”

And that needs to start at Silverstone in front of what is sure to be a sell-out Silverstone packed with fans wanting to see just one thing.

They nearly got it last year when he thundered into the lead only for his tyre to explode on a seminal day for tyre suppliers, Pirelli.

“I’m definitely gunning for a Silverstone win,” added Hamilton.

“Last year it was definitely gutting to not win, to not bring it home for the country and for the fans.

“We have another chance this year and I’ll be doing absolutely everything to make sure we’re in front.

“But I want Nico to finish every race, with me ahead. If he finishes every race and I finish ahead then you can’t say I’m in the lead because he’s had problems, it can only be that I’ve done a better job.

“Last year the tyre blew and I came from last to fourth and felt like I had won. “

Now he wants the win for real. And needs it.