Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa, his World Championship rival, were required to explain how they contribute to “greener motoring” yesterday at a wooden and stage-managed press conference in a downtown Tokyo hotel during the build-up to this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.

Having been briefed by PR officials from Bridgestone, the tyre manufacturer, Hamilton, the McLaren Mercedes driver who leads the World Championship by seven points from Massa, of Ferrari, claimed that he tries to plan his journeys and take public transport as much as possible. Earlier, Massa had explained with even less conviction that he always checks the tyre pressure on his car before he sets off for the shops.

It just so happens that these small measures are tips that are suggested by Bridgestone in a new booklet for its “Make Cars Green” campaign, which is aimed at motorists worldwide. Apparently, driving with lower-than-recommended tyre pressure, for example, decreases fuel efficiency and is bad for the environment.

During the Japanese Grand Prix at the Fuji Speedway this weekend Formula One will lend its support to the initiative, which is also backed by the FIA, the governing body of motor sport, by using tyres with green stripes on.

This will do little to convince the sceptics, who argue that, even if Formula One is trying hard to embrace hybrid technology and cut costs, the best contribution the sport could make to stopping global warming would be to put itself out of business.

Coming off the stage, after a Japanese audience had heard Hamilton wax lyrical about Japan and its food — he loves teppanyaki cooking — the McLaren driver was confronted by a sceptical British journalist, curious about his travel arrangements in Geneva, where he lives for tax reasons.

“The bus service in Geneva is pretty good is it, Lewis?” he was asked.

Hamilton shot back: “I don’t use a bus in Geneva, I use the tram.”

In London, Hamilton’s fame means that he could not use public transport even if he wanted to, it seems. “No way,” he said when asked if he tries to use the bus in London. “It would be a disaster. I’d have to have a moustache and a hoodie — but you can’t win either way because then I’d be taken for a hoodlum.”

Hamilton said that, as part of what he called some “quality time” with his family last weekend, he took part in a four-hour endurance race for radio-controlled cars in Geneva.

Hamilton, who has been racing model cars since he was 4, took turns to race his car with his younger half-brother, Nicholas. They finished fourth out of 20 pairings.