Hamilton-di Resta split heads for court

Paul di Resta's decision to part company with manager Anthony Hamilton looks set to get messy, after the latter filed papers at London High Court claiming that the termination of his contract was unlawful.

News of di Resta's decision to drop Hamilton as his manager broke over the British Grand Prix team, but sources claim that the relationship actually broke down during the Chinese round, when di Resta discovered that he had been misled over a possible sponsorship deal.

According to Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper, di Resta is understood to have discovered that Hamilton, the father of 2008 world champion and current McLaren driver Lewis, had misreported details of a potential multi-million pound deal with the energy drink brand Go Fast, which di Resta had approached him with after it was set up by friend Jordan Wise. Hamilton allegedly suggested that the driver buy the rights to the brand from Force India so that they could proceed with the deal, claiming that they were worth in the region of ?1.5m, but, after not hearing back from the team and deciding to press the issue while the F1 series stopped over in Shanghai, di Resta was informed that the rights were worth only ?800,000.

It was at this point, according to the report, that the 26-year old Scot decided to terminate his contract with Hamilton, despite the matter not coming to light for a couple of months. di Resta, who has been tipped as a potential candidate for the Ferrari and Mercedes teams in coming years, is now taking advice from the Sports Partnership, a company set up by Jenson Button and his manager, Richard Goddard.

Hamilton, meanwhile, has reacted by bringing a case for wrongful termination of contract and loss of earnings, although it is expected that the matter could be settled out of court.