Lewis Hamilton left Monza following the Italian Grand Prix with a number of his McLaren team convinced he will walk away and join Mercedes next season.
Hamilton has upset some of his team with his increasingly idiosyncratic behaviour in recent weeks, in particular his decision to tweet confidential McLaren data before the Belgian Grand Prix – a race that was won by Jenson Button with Hamilton crashing out on the first corner.
The race in Spa was sandwiched between Hungary and Italy, both of which Hamilton won and it is those victories that the McLaren team are hoping will help persuade their prize asset to stay.
If he does remain the relationship will never be quite the same, because his behaviour has angered a number of people. He has badly scorched – if not burned – his bridges at McLaren, where team-mate Button's easy-going style has made him the more popular driver with engineers and mechanics.
The body language between Hamilton and his employers was muted on Sunday evening despite a weekend which had shown him at his scintillating best. Neither were the noises coming from the executive chairman, Ron Dennis, and the team principal, Martin Whitmarsh, conducive to bending over backwards to accommodate the demands of the driver's agents, XIX Entertainment.
So one of the most remarkable relationships in Formula One, which started with Dennis taking Hamilton under his Woking wing when he was 13, is in danger of breaking up, although Whitmarsh sounded hopeful of a deal when he said yesterday: "My feeling is that this is a great team for Lewis to stay in. He has got to want to stay here, and we will figure that one out when we've had some celebrations.
"I think we are working together well. We are a winning team, he is a winning driver and we are great together. There is a lot of sense in us working together. We have a finite amount of time and I haven't, I hope, wasted any of that on matters other than on working together, having a quick car, winning races and winning championships."But Whitmarsh's earlier dismissal of the Hamilton-to-Mercedes story as nothing more than "a fantasy" and media speculation look a bit short of the mark this morning. McLaren appear to have been caught on the hop.
As for Hamilton, he didn't want to add the speculation and instead was anxious to concentrate on the next race in Singapore.
'We've obviously had a certain package the last two races which has been very strong," he said. "We were good in Hungary but so was the Lotus. I anticipate it's going to be a tough battle. Ferrari may bring a package ahead of ours and we may bring a stronger one at the next race. We always target consistency.
Commenting on the championship table, where Kimi Raikkonen is only a point behind him in third place despite having not won a race this season, Hamilton added: "That's incredible. So he got 10 points today. I consider everyone in the top five or six a major title threat. He could have won maybe in Hungary if he had a quicker pit stop.
"It's the closest we have been since 2008. Because we've finally got a car in which we can challenge and compete. We didn't have that in some other years."
Hamilton's possible replacements
Heikki Kovalainen is the surprise name on McLaren's short-list if they have to look for a replacement for Lewis Hamilton. Kovalainen, 30, drives for Caterham and hasn't scored a point in his three seasons with the team. But he drove for McLaren in 2008 and 2009, where he immediately impressed with his pace. Very experienced.
Paul di Resta, 26, is the only British driver in the paddock outside McLaren and, ideally, they would like another Brit. He recently signed for Jenson Button's agents, Sports Partnership. Button said yesterday: "We train a lot together, cycling in the south of France together. I think he is very, very talented and he has got his head screwed on." Destined to join a leading team.
Kimi Raikkonen, 32, is another former McLaren driver, between 2002-6, and is thrillingly fast. He is just one point behind Hamilton in the championship table, even though he has not won a race, and Lotus will want him to stay.
Valtteri Bottas, 23, is a test driver with Williams but has caused an impression and would be an outside bet.