Erstwhile F1 world championship leader Lewis Hamilton insists he 'can't begin to explain' how much pressure there is on his shoulders as he bids to lift the coveted drivers' crown at the second time of asking in 2008.

Lewis Hamilton has acknowledged that the pressure is beginning to get to him in his second season of Formula 1, as he finds himself struggling to deal with the expectations of a nation whose people are counting upon him to return the world championship laurels to Britain.

The McLaren-Mercedes ace lost the world championship lead in the wake of his calamitous error in the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal last time out, when he ran into the back of chief title rival Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari in the pit-lane, as the Finn queued at the red light. That saw BMW-Sauber's Robert Kubica leapfrog him to seize the advantage in the drivers' standings, three points ahead of Hamilton.

Worse still the Stevenage ace has been handed a ten-place grid penalty for his indiscretion when he takes to the track in Magny-Cours this weekend, making his task of winning the French Grand Prix - a race in which he finished third last year, behind the two runaway Ferraris, and on a circuit on which it is notoriously difficult to overtake - a tall order, if not downright impossible.

"The sport is fun, but there's a way you have to learn to enjoy it," the 23-year-old admitted in an interview with BBC Sport. "There's so much pressure, and I can't begin to explain how much pressure I have on my shoulders.

"I put a lot of pressure on myself [earlier in the season], too much, and that led to mistakes, being too on the limit. I wasn't really enjoying it, to be honest.

"When you don't succeed it doesn't feel so great, but these are character-building days and the days that make you stronger.

"I didn't win the last race, but I'm loving this. I get to come back here, work with the guys and push forward; there's a great atmosphere, always pushing to get better and I wouldn't change it for the world. I'm really enjoying myself now."

Though Magny-Cours is expected to favour Ferrari over McLaren - regardless of Hamilton's grid penalty - the Monaco Grand Prix winner insisted he had high hopes of triumphing in his home race at Silverstone a fortnight later, adding that if the venue were to disappear from the calendar, as has been threatened on numerous occasions by F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, it would be a disaster for the sport.

Silverstone's current contract to host the grand prix expires next year, with no renewal yet in place and Ecclestone demanding significant circuit improvements, which have since been given the green light by the local authorities.

The 77-year-oild is also insisting that the British Racing Drivers' Club, who own the track, pay the going rate - believed to be £11.2 million in 2009, almost a 100 per cent increase on the previous deal and something the club maintains it cannot afford to do. Ecclestone has warned that he has a large number of new countries clamouring over the right to host a grand prix - and willing to pay over the odds for the privilege.

"You can't lose this circuit," Hamilton stressed. "It's got real character and class and it's been around for years. If you lose it, F1 won't be the same.

"I don't get involved in the politics, but anything I can do to help [the British Grand Prix], I will. I feel the business is getting stronger, and stands a stronger chance of saving it."

The vast majority of grands prix are funded by governments, but the BRDC gets no financial support from the British Government, having therefore to fund the race through ticket sales alone. The BBC reports that one of the race's traditional 'protections' has been removed by the continuing failure to agree terms on a new governing Concorde Agreement, which guarantees the British fixture as one of four 'historic' events along with the Monaco, French and Italian Grands Prix.