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BARCELONA - British driver Lewis Hamilton has been so focused on his extraordinary Formula One debut that he has shut out everything around him before races -- including scantily-clad 'grid girls'.
"I swear I've not even noticed the grid girls, which is quite unusual because I've always noticed
them before; When you pull up and see the lady standing in front of you," the 22-year-old McLaren driver told reporters at the Spanish Grand Prix.
"I've not even noticed it. It's quite disappointing actually, but I am here to do a job and that's my focus," he added.
The Briton, Formula One's first black driver, has been hailed as a champion in the making after the most sensational debut the sport has witnessed.
The first driver to stand on the podium in his first three races, an achievement unmatched even by greats such as Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna, Hamilton has taken the sport by storm.
He is level on 22 points at the top of the standings with double champion and team mate Fernando Alonso and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen after three grands prix and with every chance of winning Sunday's first race of the European season.
His success -- a third place in Australia followed by second places in Malaysia and Bahrain -- has catapulted him from the sports pages to the front of British newspapers but he said it had not affected him.
"It doesn't put you off track," he said. "Even when I'm talking to you now, I'm focusing on my race on Sunday."
Hamilton, whose paternal grandfather emigrated to Britain from the Caribbean island of Grenada to work on the London Underground, said returning home as a celebrity did still take some getting used to.
"When I got home there were photographers outside my house. Everywhere I go now, if I go to the petrol station or if I go to the sweet shop or the supermarket, people notice me," he said.
"If they don't approach me, they whisper to their friends.
"It's really quite strange...you have to almost pinch yourself to make sure it's real.
"Every time I do go out, someone notices me. But it's not a problem. People are really pleasant. I just have to make sure I enjoy it because there's not really much more you can do about it," added Hamilton.
"I knew that this was going to happen at some point, and it's a sacrifice I was willing to make. I love doing what I'm doing, I love racing the car. It's so much better than anything else I've ever experienced."
If the McLaren driver beats Alonso at the Spanish driver's home track, he can be sure of more attention than ever when he gets home.
- REUTERS