Lewis Hamilton earned his victory lap – so let him party

You have to laugh. Even now Ron Dennis doesn’t get it. There he was addressing an audience of London marketing folk earnestly explaining how Lewis Hamilton’s descent into decadence would never have happened had he remained at McLaren. “He’s shaking off some chains he didn’t want to have,” Ron said.

As Hamilton pointed out in his feisty response to the Dennis “critique”, neither would there have been the two world titles he has won since departing Ron’s world. Indeed, the present “coming off the rails” might have been avoided had Dennis been less prescriptive when he had the genius on his books. Maybe he is in part responsible for the turn of events, since they might be seen as a reaction to the overly controlled environment Hamilton experienced at Woking.

Under that beautifully sculptured Norman Foster roof there is only one way to do things and that’s the right way, or, as it is otherwise known, Ron’s way. It is so not because of the inherent quality of the method but because Ron says so. This is the world according to the medieval ruler, when matters of right and wrong are based not on fact but the mood of the man nearest to God.

Dennis is genuinely well-meaning, and generous too. But there is none in the history of motor sport more convinced of his rectitude in all matters, big or small, from the setting of company strategy to the arrangement of the flowers in a vase.

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In the world according to Dennis, Hamilton’s genius can be dated back to the moment he joined the company aged 13, not to the early days behind the wheel of a kart assembled and engineered by his father. But that’s OK, Ron. No one, not least Hamilton, would deny the massive influence your money had in the development of a rare talent. And yes, the Hamiltons, father and son, were thrilled to have it, and grateful for it.

However, there comes a point when the nurturing reaches maturity and the balance of power shifts. Dennis’s comments suggest he is no nearer understanding that equation, nor the personality of the driver he had on his payroll for 14 years.

So Lewis is having a few beers, dating a few women, busting a few shapes on the dance floor. About bloody time. Isn’t that supposed to be part of the racing driver’s DNA? If you think Hamilton is taking a rum route through life I refer you to the life and times of arguably the greatest racer of them all, Sir Stirling Moss.

Moss met his first wife, Katie Molson, via a pair of binoculars at Le Mans. “I was in the pits scanning the crowd for crumpet, and I saw her. I waved her to come over … met her at the barrier into the pits.” Crumpet, eh, Stirling? You would never have got away with that at McLaren.

All of this lifestyle scrutiny Hamilton has attracted comes in the wake of a run of results that have not quite met the standard he set in the earlier part of the year. Though there is lots of tech talk about the balance of Hamilton’s car in the last six races of the season which finished on Sunday, it seems obvious why at least some of his edge has gone.

Hamilton won his third world drivers’ title with three races to spare. He knew three races before his coronation in America that it was only a matter of time and raced accordingly. His team-mate, Nico Rosberg, could barely lay a glove on him when it mattered. And now with Hamilton at half-cock Rosberg is lauded for raising his game. Has the world gone mad?

Hamilton has been less than discreet in his private life, admitting to little sleep in this post-championship period. Slamming the Pagani Zonda supercar into three parked vehicles in the early hours of a Monaco morning was not the smartest move, but hardly the distress signal some would have it be.

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Hamilton has been back and forth across the Atlantic all summer, indulging his fancy for the party scene in Miami, New York and Los Angeles. But with a title to be won he always turned up on time and got the job done. He’s been playing exhibition football since, an environment that does not produce the necessary adrenalin flows.

Far more interesting than the criticism is the impulse to get stuck in. The struggle for acceptance is clearly far from won. Envy on the other hand… We can excuse Jenson Button for his remarks about Fernando Alonso presenting the bigger challenge. Button does not have a bad bone in his body. He might be right, but his testimony does not tell the whole story. Hamilton was fried at McLaren by the time Button turned up, experienced too much frustration, disappointment and, quite frankly, too much Ron.

I shouldn’t worry too much about him now. He’ll be back in Australia next March as quick as ever. If this time next year Rosberg is the one wearing the laurel around his neck then fair enough, let Hamilton have the criticism. Until then, let him be.