Lewis Hamilton is aiming to be Britain's best. Photo / AP
How quickly the mind of a sportsman turns from the ecstasy of winning to retaining his crown. Lewis Hamilton, the king of Formula One again, wanted only a watermelon juice and a few sips of cognac to celebrate his second world championship before his thoughts drifted to next year and becoming Britain's greatest driver.
Whisper it, but we are now in the Hamilton era.
The dominance of Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull is over; it is the turn of Hamilton and Mercedes to take the spoils.
"I feel like this is just the beginning," Hamilton said yesterday. "What this team has put together is something incredibly special."
In the next few weeks, Hamilton is expected to sign a contract worth 20 million ($40 million) a year which could keep him at Mercedes until 2020.
The team should have won every race this season and, under a stable set of rules, it is hard to see anyone catching them.
Ferrari are in disarray, on their third team principal in eight months, and Red Bull spend most of their time campaigning for a change in regulations, so great is their performance deficit.
Hamilton, too, is maturing into a winning machine. The speed and the racecraft are as exceptional as ever. We always knew his instincts - which, sadly for his rival Nico Rosberg, cannot be learned or taught - were impeccable. But in the tumult of their duel, the Englishman has added that vital missing ingredient: mind management.
As he admitted, in years gone by he might have reacted to their Belgian barney differently, allowing negative introspection to consume his psyche.
Instead, Hamilton went on the dominant run which swung this season's title his way.
These qualities will only have been entrenched by his latest career-defining success. Rosberg has reached his ceiling, while Hamilton has more growing to do.
Fresh from his finest hour, Hamilton sat at a small coffee table looking out on the plush golf course at Abu Dhabi's Westin Hotel where the team have been staying.
It was not long after 9am, a heinous hour given the previous night's celebrations in the Amber Lounge. He was perhaps the most relaxed he had ever been, even after the umpteenth interview.
There was plenty of looking back, remembering the days karting at Rye House, in Hertfordshire. He recalled his father's box trailer, even the brand of chicken noodle soup (Knorr owes him at least 1 million for the promotion he has given the brand this year).
One Christmas present from his father, his first go-kart, stuck out.
"I remember looking through the letter box at my dad's house, but no one was in," he said. "I could see the Christmas present on the table all wrapped up. It was my first go-kart. Then I had to pretend I didn't know it was there."
Far more pertinent, however, was what Britain's first double world champion in 43 years had to say about the future. "I definitely feel at the top of my game," he said. "I hope as a team we can do that.
"As a team, we are wanting to be fighting with the Ferraris, the McLarens, and come out ahead, because that will make it even sweeter.
"I do feel this is an era where we can continue to be the best, if we apply ourselves and learn from this year, and improve.
"For me, I know I have to work even harder next year. I know I've worked as hard as I can this year but there's plenty to improve on. I know Nico is going to come back stronger. There are still areas I can improve."
For the rest of the grid, not to mention Rosberg, it is a frightening thought. Offering congratulations to his former teammate, Jenson Button, one of the wisest heads in the Formula One paddock, warned that the Hamilton-Mercedes juggernaut would plough on next year.
"One world championship is enough for any racing driver, but to win two is out of this world," Button said. "I am very happy for him. He is a lovely guy and a very straightforward individual, even if it does not always come across like that.
"I am sure Mercedes are going to have an unbelievable package again next year. Everything is in place for them to win another one."
Even Sir Jackie Stewart, the three-time champion whose British record Hamilton is on track to match and perhaps surpass, has offered glowing praise.
Stewart, often a Hamilton critic, said: "He's a young man, so he has many more years in the sport and I think we are going to see even greater things from him."
It all leaves Hamilton facing the prospect of the best winter of his life.
First, there is the important matter of sorting out a new deal, visiting the Mercedes factory in Brackley, Northamptonshire, and seeing his mother, Carmen. "She's never in the limelight, seen on TV very rarely, but she's in the background," he said. "She's the best mum in the world."
There is also the small matter of attending to the other woman in his life, girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger.
Hamilton said: "She's witnessed the sacrifice first hand. And it's sacrificing time with her. Sometimes I say I've got to be somewhere else. Or the early nights. She says: 'Really? It's 10 o'clock. You want to go to bed now?'"
Their engagement or a permanent move back to the UK - which would do wonders for his public standing - are not on the cards yet. But a succession of championships does seem to be on the horizon.
Lewis Hamilton is in line to become the richest sportsman in British history after clinching his second Formula One world drivers' title.
Hamilton's latest championship triumph is poised to net him a 100 million ($200 million), five-year contract with Mercedes, cementing his status as Britain's wealthiest active athlete.
The 68 million fortune he was estimated to possess this year is still dwarfed by that of the now-retired David Beckham, who, with his wife, Victoria, is said to be worth 210 million.
Nigel Currie, a sponsorship expert of brandRapport, predicted Hamilton would comfortably surpass the former England footballer's wealth and even threaten that of the combined "Brand Beckham".
"I would say he's going to be Britain's highest-paid sportsman ever. He's in pole position to do that."
Currie said if Hamilton married his girlfriend, singer Nicole Scherzinger, their combined earning potential could eventually challenge the Beckhams'.
Hamilton's annual earnings were recently estimated to be 20.4 million in salary, prizemoney and personal endorsements. Only Gareth Bale (23.2 million) was said to be paid more among British sportsmen but Hamilton looks certain to overhaul that total when recent prizemoney and a 3 million pay rise are taken into account.
Hamilton, whose personal endorsements net him 1.9 million a year from Bombardier and IWC Schaffhausen, joined Mercedes from McLaren partly because they promised him more freedom to negotiate such deals outside restrictive team-only contracts.
Fully exploiting that could lead to him earning well in excess of 50 million a year, according to Currie.
"In individual sports such as motor racing, tennis, golf, the real top stars like Roger Federer and Michael Schumacher were earning 50 million a year in terms of contracts, endorsements, sponsorships. Hamilton could go way above that."
Only Rory McIlroy looks capable of cashing in to the same extent, with the golfer's annual earnings set to surge from 15.5 million after his double major-winning season.
Warriors star Kurt Capewell led the way for the Maroons.