Rumours rife as Hamilton meets Red Bull

McLaren team chief Martin Whitmarsh appeared to have a fight on his hands yesterday as news leaked out that dissatisfied 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton has held talks about his future with Red Bull.

Hamilton, it was reported, spent some time at the Red Bull team’s offices in the paddock at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Saturday – 24 hours before he made his crashing exit from Sunday’s spectacular rain-hit Canadian Grand Prix.

According to sources at Red Bull, the 26-year-old Briton spent more than 15 minutes in a private meeting with Red Bull team chief Christian Horner.

Asked what they talked about, the source said it was just “a social visit.”

Hamilton is tied with McLaren till 2012 and has often declared that he wants to complete his career with the Woking-based outfit.

But it has been long-rumoured by paddock insiders that Hamilton would be prepared to leave McLaren and be a team-mate to his greatest rival, defending world champion Sebastian Vettel, in exchange for a chance to win the title again in a truly competitive car.

He believes McLaren have struggled not only to build a competitive machine, but also to deliver the upgrades or on-track management performance required to compete at the very top level despite the team delivering the only two non-Vettel wins this year in seven races.

Compatriot and 2009 champion Jenson Button’s astonishing and dramatic triumph in Sunday’s rain-hit race will have buoyed the team, but is not regarded as likely to have done more than paper over the cracks in Hamilton’s view, according to paddock insiders.

Hamilton arrived in Montreal as favourite to win Sunday’s 70-laps contest, but discovered that the McLaren team had not prepared the car for the outright speed required for him to take pole position.

He started sixth and then crashed out early after colliding with Button.

His crashes in Monaco and Canada have all been seen as part of his desire to succeed and may have tried to push too hard to beat Red Bull.

Vettel finished second on Sunday, but now has a 76-point-lead in the title race.

Hamilton signed a new management team for his career this year and is now in the same stable as former England football captain David Beckham with Simon Fuller’s XIX Entertainment.

This agency played a leading role in Beckham’s move from Real Madrid to Los Angeles and may help Hamilton move his loyalty from Woking to Milton Keynes.

Vettel’s Red Bull team-mate, Mark Webber, has a rolling one-year contract and could be seen by McLaren as a good replacement for Hamilton alongside Button.