Befitting his reputation as a consummate professional, Lewis Hamilton declared in the aftermath of his action-packed victory at the Japanese Grand Prix: "I won't be going partying."

Yet, such is the charisma and effortless pizzazz which the 22-year-old Englishman has brought to an otherwise sterile Formula One cavalcade this season that Bernie Ecclestone and his minions will surely be celebrating the imminent coronation of the first rookie ever to win the world championship.

In the old days, when James Hunt partied until dawn and Ayrton Senna wasn't afraid to punch the lights out of any impertinent arriviste who threatened to rain on his parade, F1 luxuriated in personality clashes and giant egos.

It was automatically assumed that anybody prepared to clamber into a cockpit and risk his life at 200mph had to possess endless self-belief and a disregard for danger.

But, somewhere in the mix, the va-va-voom vanished from the sport as the drivers increasingly resembled Thunderbirds puppets and spoke their lines as if reading from the phone book.

In which light, thank heavens for Hamilton, who doesn't conceal his feelings and stated yesterday that he would be happier if Fernando Alonso skedaddled from McLaren as quickly as possible, rather than linger with his petted lip and paranoia.

Indeed, the fashion in which Hamilton has risen above the rancour, and remained focused on his task, testify to the fact that he is no Jenson Button, nor even a David Coulthard, but a hard-nosed winner with a tigerish mentality and an inner serenity which suggest other prizes lie in wait.

"If the team want to keep him Alonso, they keep him, but I'm here as long as they want me, and I don't know who else would slip in here, but I would much rather it was Fernando at Ferrari and me at McLaren," said Hamilton, indicating that he doesn't wish this saga to drag on into 2008.

"This season has helped reconfirm in my mind where I want to be, and where I want to see out my career, and that is here," he added.

If, as anticipated, he capitalises on his current 12-point advantage to storm to his holy grail in China next Sunday, Alonso's future in Ron Dennis' team can be counted in days and not weeks.

Thus the stage is now poised for the kind of flashbulb-popping extravaganza and media frenzy which Ecclestone could only have dreamt about whilst Michael Schumacher was racing into history in an atmosphere of barely-suppressed yawns and declining audience figures.

Even if Hamilton insists he will take nothing for granted, he has already begun contemplating the prospect of following in the slipstream of legends. "On the last lap in Japan, I was thinking about some of the races Senna was involved in and Alain Prost, and I was thinking that I was on my way to achieving something similar to them," said Hamilton.

"It's a big boost, in terms of confidence in my driving ability, to be world champion, but we still have two races left and anything can happen, so we need to knuckle down. I think the key for me is to just focus on the next event and make sure my preparations are right. If that happens, then we will be fine."

The consequences, if Hamilton seals his destiny, will be profound, and not only because Britain boasts a new global icon. For starters, his success should boost the chances of Scotland's Paul Di Resta being elevated to the grand prix ranks, and the thought of these two prodigies sparring for supremacy in future campaigns is compelling.

Ultimately, F1 sorely needed an injection of spontaneity, chutzpah and star quality and one man has shown these attributes in abundance. And his name wasn't an Abba hit.