We are all breathing rarefied air in Mexico City, 7,000ft above sea level — a peak to which Lewis Hamilton's recent achievements have well acclimatised him.
There is an imperturbability in his manner as he moves around the paddock, a sense of 'the silence around his body' as Norman Mailer said of Muhammad Ali.
Comparisons with Ali, the most captivating figure of 20th Century sport, possibly of all sport, are invidious. But it was his Hamilton evoked in explaining how hard it is for Nico Rosberg, his vanquished Mercedes team-mate, to beat him.
'It's the same you would say to Usain Bolt, or Ali, or other people winning in their sport,' said the triple world champion, preparing for Sunday's Mexican Grand Prix.
'It doesn't matter how hard those people worked to beat Ali. No matter how hard a kid is going to train he might not beat Usain Bolt. There was a time when no one could beat Tiger Woods because he was too good.'
Perhaps feeling his honesty was in danger of turning into hubris, he added: 'That's not what I'm saying about myself because I like to do my talking on the track, but that's just how sport is.'
The week between Hamilton's title triumph in Austin, Texas, hardly appeared to have acted as balm on Rosberg's crushed spirit.
He had accused Hamilton of driving too aggressively last Sunday — an allegation that had some vague validity, but made him look as if he was the one who would always blink first — and that anger had not dissipated.
Asked if he would change tactics — possibly play dirty — to find a way to win, Rosberg said: 'I don't want to go into that.'
Whether he is plotting some revenge around this remodelled circuit on Sunday is unclear.
Hamilton is unconcerned. 'He'll continue to work,' he said.
'There are all the opportunities ahead of us for him to win. It's how you go about it.
'But I feel since I've been karting that if I apply myself a certain way — all the kids I was racing against I was going to beat. I pride myself on the same today.'
There is an imperturbability in his manner as he moves around the paddock, a sense of 'the silence around his body' as Norman Mailer said of Muhammad Ali.
Comparisons with Ali, the most captivating figure of 20th Century sport, possibly of all sport, are invidious. But it was his Hamilton evoked in explaining how hard it is for Nico Rosberg, his vanquished Mercedes team-mate, to beat him.
'It's the same you would say to Usain Bolt, or Ali, or other people winning in their sport,' said the triple world champion, preparing for Sunday's Mexican Grand Prix.
'It doesn't matter how hard those people worked to beat Ali. No matter how hard a kid is going to train he might not beat Usain Bolt. There was a time when no one could beat Tiger Woods because he was too good.'
Perhaps feeling his honesty was in danger of turning into hubris, he added: 'That's not what I'm saying about myself because I like to do my talking on the track, but that's just how sport is.'
The week between Hamilton's title triumph in Austin, Texas, hardly appeared to have acted as balm on Rosberg's crushed spirit.
He had accused Hamilton of driving too aggressively last Sunday — an allegation that had some vague validity, but made him look as if he was the one who would always blink first — and that anger had not dissipated.
Asked if he would change tactics — possibly play dirty — to find a way to win, Rosberg said: 'I don't want to go into that.'
Whether he is plotting some revenge around this remodelled circuit on Sunday is unclear.
Hamilton is unconcerned. 'He'll continue to work,' he said.
'There are all the opportunities ahead of us for him to win. It's how you go about it.
'But I feel since I've been karting that if I apply myself a certain way — all the kids I was racing against I was going to beat. I pride myself on the same today.'
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