Lewis Hamilton’s bad weekend at Suzuka went from pain to plain embarrassment an hour before the Japanese grand prix.
Surrounded by his Red Bull rivals perched in stately Rolls Royces, and Fernando Alonso in a classic Ferrari, Hamilton’s tour of the circuit for the drivers’ parade generated more laughs than adulation from the fans.
The McLaren driver shared with his chauffeur a tiny 1950s Messerschmitt KR175, better known as a three-wheeled ’bubble car’.
It is powered by a 173cc engine, steered with bicycle handlebars and fired up with a pull-rope.
Luckily, the 25-year-old world champion of 2008 also saw the funny side, taking a picture of the ’bubble car’ with his mobile phone once the agonising lap was over.