Widespread reports after the Canadian grand prix said the 26-year-old met with Red Bull’s Christian Horner at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve after qualifying. “He was also spotted doing the same with Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali,” read a report in the British newspaper The Mirror. Hamilton is being managed by Simon Fuller’s XIX Entertainment and a spokesman on Tuesday denied the rumours.
“I can say categorically there are no talks with Red Bull or Ferrari. In fact anyone. “If we were to start talks we would go to McLaren first. Lewis is happy at McLaren and still very positive about playing a part in this championship,” added the spokesman. It is believed Hamilton personally sought out the Red Bull talks, walking into the team’s circuit offices and asking a member of the catering staff if he knew where Horner was. That meeting preceded Hamilton’s latest controversies when he got involved in more collisions in Montreal. “He seems to be in a bit of a difficult situation,” Horner is quoted by the German newspaper Welt, whose own headline referred to the Briton as ‘Rambo’.
“I think he’s trying a bit too hard. Maybe he just needs a bit of time out,” added Horner. David Coulthard, who switched to Red Bull after nearly a decade with McLaren, thinks a move away from the British team might also be a good idea for Hamilton. “Maybe (it) is something he needs after literally growing up at McLaren over the last decade — drop the emotional baggage which inevitably grows in every relationship,” he wrote in his Telegraph column.