INTERVIEW-Motor racing-Hamilton craves another licence to thrill

MANAMA, March 10 (Reuters) - Lewis Hamilton already has the fast cars, the beautiful woman and a licence to thrill.

What the 25-year-old Briton would love now, as he prepares to battle for the Formula One title he lost last year to compatriot and new McLaren team mate Jenson Button, is a cinematic licence to kill.

"When I was younger I did think of myself being the first black James Bond...I think it would be pretty cool," he told Reuters in an interview ahead of Sunday's season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

"Just to play a part in a James Bond (film) would be wicked. Really wicked," he added. "I guess that would be a dream for me one day to play a part, even if it's just a five second guy in the background."

Hamilton was speaking after the launch, on a deserted building site on the fringes of Manama, of a new alternate reality game (www.secretlewis.com) by personal sponsor Reebok.

The online launch, with the idol of millions standing in front of a giant screen several stories high with just a production crew and a handful of curious bystanders in attendance, created a surreal effect that added to the clandestine feel.

The sound of jackhammers and drills reverberated in the darkness from behind scaffolding shrouding a half-built skyscraper. A stray cat wandered out from behind a skip.

The game is scheduled to last until October, with an evolving storyline and Hamilton playing a secret agent, with Bond-like running and jumping stunts.

"Clearly I would never be breaking into anyone else's house but it's kind of cool to pretend I was doing it and in the best way you possibly could," he said.

SECRET LIFE

Hamilton, who is dating pop singer Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls, already has one secret life of his own and intends to keep it that way.

"Wouldn't you like to know? yeah, well. It's a secret," he said when asked about it.

"I work as hard as I can to make sure when I get to the race that I'm in that zone for the weekend. As soon as I leave, I switch off and go into a different place."

In his case, home in Switzerland or to his girlfriend in Los Angeles.

"I am always on my computer...getting into different worlds," he added. "When I am at home I go online with my brother, who is back in the UK, and we race each other and its like we are there in the same place.

"I am online racing all these computer games, I could never put my name on it because kids around the world would beat me and my brother beats me quite often. So I would never like anyone to know it's actually me."

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Justin Palmer

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