SILVERSTONE, England, July 7 (Reuters) - Britain's Formula One revelation Lewis Hamilton is discovering the scarier side of his sudden fame.

Hamilton leads the world championship in his rookie season, with a podium finish in each of his eight races to date including two victories and a third to fight for in Sunday's British Grand Prix.

However, McLaren team chief Ron Dennis highlighted the downside of his driver's rise to prominence after Hamilton took pole position in Saturday's qualifying session.

"We had a charity event at Great Ormond Street (Hospital) on Wednesday and it was scary, really scary what happened there," Dennis told reporters.

"A car followed him all the way home to his flat. Three guys jumped out. All they wanted was his autograph but it was a pretty scary thing to happen."

Despite the challenges, Hamilton is anxious not to change as an individual or to become remote from Formula One fans.

"I'm very lucky," said the 22-year-old. "I have a very good balance and a sense of awareness.

UPSIDE DOWN

"Even though my world's turned upside down, I can still get on with my life. It's been really tough walking the streets with people coming up to you. It's strange.

"I want people to be able to approach me and I want to try and give them as much time as possible because I know that's what some F1 drivers didn't do when I was younger."

Around 80,000 fans packed Silverstone, a record for a Saturday, to watch Hamilton snatch pole in the final seconds.

"I could see so many fans out there, it's just fantastic," he said. "To see the support I've had is unreal.

"I was really happy when I came across the line and saw the reaction of the fans. It's great to be at home.

"To see the support, to see the Hamilton flags waving, I get a big buzz from that and a lot of energy."

Hamilton will be drawing on that energy on Sunday when he competes with team mate and double world champion Fernando Alonso and also the threat from Ferrari.

"I wouldn't say how much time we gain but you definitely get a confidence boost," he said. "It's not just one group of people, like it is in certain places, here it's the whole grandstand."