5 Questions F1 Fans Would Love to Ask Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton is arguably the most complex character in Formula One.

Claiming his second world championship in 2014, he is perhaps the most complete performer currently in the sport. He is a driver who has recently found the perfect combination of one-lap speed, strong pace over a long run and that good, old-fashioned aggression that characterises the best in the business.

Away from the track, Hamilton is a megastar, a one-man brand and the most recognisable face on today's grid.

In a long-term relationship with pop singer Nicole Scherzinger, Hamilton—who arrived in F1 as a 22-year-old in 2007—has spent his entire career in the public eye and has had to deal with his every move being scrutinised.

But what if you ever found yourself in conversation with the two-time world champion, or ever found yourself stuck in a lift with him over a grand prix weekend? 

Although we could never better Nelson Piquet's query from last year's Brazilian GP podium interview—"Where is Nicole?" slurred the three-time world champion before toddling off to chat with Felipe Massa—here are five questions that you might like to ask Hamilton.

Up until last season, Hamilton had worn a yellow helmet throughout his career.

Not only was it a tribute to his boyhood inspiration, the late three-time world champion Ayrton Senna, it allowed his father to spot Lewis on track during his early days in karting, as per the Daily Mail's Jonathan McEvoy.

Although, like most drivers in the current era, Hamilton has sported the odd "special occasion" helmet—for example, the Michael Jackson tribute at Austin 2013—the iconic yellow design had always been an integral part of his racing attire.

After appearing in pre-season testing in 2014, however, the fluorescent helmet was shelved once the campaign got underway in favour of a gruesome white number, which Hamilton wore in each of last year's 19 grands prix en route to his second world championship.

So, Lewis, why the change? Is the white helmet, with success associated with it, now a good luck charm? And has the yellow design been consigned to history?

We simply need to know.

Hamilton was enraged after qualifying for last year's Monaco Grand Prix, which saw the British driver denied a shot at pole after his team-mate, Nico Rosberg, brought out the yellow flags in the dying seconds.

With provisional pole already in his pocket, Rosberg decided to take more risks on his last flying lap of Q3 in a bid to maintain his position, but overcooked it at Mirabeau and ran off track.

Hamilton, behind, was forced to slow and abandon his own lap, before hinting that Rosberg had deliberately sabotaged his final run by telling BBC Sport's Andrew Benson: "We've been through the data and seen what needed to be seen. I wish you guys could see it."

The British driver, though, has proved in the past that he is not exactly averse to releasing data into the public domain.

After qualifying for the 2012 Belgian GP, Hamilton tweeted an image of a telemetry sheet belonging to McLaren, which highlighted the differences between his lap and that of Jenson Button, his then-team-mate, at Spa. The tweet was promptly deleted and his move to Mercedes for 2013 was confirmed within a month.

But now the dust has settled on 2014 and Hamilton has his second title in the bag, why not provide the answer to the one remaining question mark hanging over last season?

Since Hamilton secured his second world championship last November, McLaren have re-signed Fernando Alonso, meaning that all the acrimony of 2007 has been conveniently forgotten.

So much so, in fact, that McLaren boss Ron Dennis claimed at the team's announcement of Alonso that—despite the Spaniard leaving the team after just one season—it was Hamilton who kick-started the chain of events that led to a deterioration in inter-team relations.

Dennis was quoted by Sky Sports' James Galloway as stating: "If you go on the 'who struck the first blow' route, actually I would say that Lewis had his role to play in starting this process which escalated.”

It was proof, if it were needed, that F1 is an extremely fickle business and added an extra element to what was already one of the greatest rivalries of modern times.

Hamilton, to his credit, has been the quietest of all three parties when it comes to reflecting on '07—a campaign that ended with both he and Alonso missing out on the title by a single point—but Dennis' claim surely makes the reigning world champion entitled to respond.

From passing Alonso at the first corner of his debut race to being blocked by the Spaniard in Hungary qualifying, there are bound to be some interesting stories to tell from Hamilton's rookie season.

At the beginning of January, Hamilton celebrated his 30th birthday, which can be a pivotal milestone for racing drivers. Entering their fourth decade, elite athletes often begin to lose the blistering skills that defined their early years and become evermore reliant on experience and nous. 

Take a look at the current grid and you see that Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen in particular have all had to reinvent themselves with age. 

We saw evidence of Hamilton experiencing that phenomenon in 2014, too, with the British driver no longer as lightning fast as he once was over the course of a single lap but wiser than ever before in racing conditions.

It is clear that Hamilton has interests outside of motor racing—he told ITV's This Morning, for example, that he is a frequent songwriter and would consider releasing an album in the future—and it would be revealing to know, ahead of the second phase of his F1 career, just how long he plans on hanging around.

Does he aim to win a specific number of titles before calling it a day? Does he want to emulate Michael Schumacher, his Mercedes predecessor, by ploughing on into his mid-40s?

Or does he think he'll just wake up one morning and decide, as seems to be the norm among sportspeople, that he's had enough?

The three-year contract that Hamilton signed to join Mercedes in September 2012 is due to expire at the end of this season—yet there is still no sense of urgency as far as a renewed deal is concerned.

Both driver and team have frequently signaled their intentions to remain united, with Hamilton and Toto Wolff describing their ease over the situation to the Daily Mail's Jonathan McEvoy. The latter told McEvoy that a new contract would be thrashed out after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

However, it is now almost two months since the 2014 season finale and there has still been no movement, with Hamilton telling Sky Sports' Pete Gill and James Galloway that he hasn't yet "sat down with the team" but again reiterating his comfort with Mercedes.

The Brackley-based team, with their championship-winning status and dominant engine-chassis package, are undeniably the most attractive destination at the moment, with there bound to be no shortage of drivers queuing up to take Hamilton's seat if they can't reach an agreement.

Among those drivers will be Fernando Alonso and Valtteri Bottas, whom Wolff has already name-dropped as possible replacements while speaking to Gazetta dello Sport (h/t the Guardian).

It would make absolutely no sense for Hamilton and Mercedes to begin their title defence with any uncertainty over their lead driver's future, so why the hold up? And why has an issue that should have been cleared up last year been allowed to bleed into this?

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