Probe fails to trouble Hamilton

What else could occupy Lewis Hamilton's mind in the week his team are accused of industrial espionage than whether to finish his golf round or go for dinner with P Diddy?

Formula One is reeling from revelations that 500 pages of Ferrari documentation were found in a raid at the home of McLaren's chief designer Mike Coughlan, but the British sensation refused to be distracted from his dream of winning Sunday's British Grand Prix.

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"It's not great, but we have a huge team and I don't think it will make a big difference," said the championship-leading rookie.

"I don't think it has affected anyone on the team. They are still focused. Someone made a small mistake but it has been made to look a lot worse than it actually is.

"I have been so busy I have not had to think about it. It has not impacted on my job. At the end of the day I have to race the car and try to win."

While Ferrari were preparing to sack their technical manager, British mechanic Nigel Stepney, for supplying the secrets to his old friend Coughlan, Hamilton was addressing the ball on the ninth hole of a golf course near McLaren's headquarters in Woking. His phone rang.

"I got a call saying that P Diddy had invited me to a special dinner," revealed the self-confessed golfing hacker.

"I wanted to do the last nine and I seriously contemplated not going. I went and they waited for me. Out of all his guests, I sat beside P Diddy.

"I met a lot of cool people: Sugababes, Trevor Nelson."

What happened next earned Hamilton several inches in the gossip columns, which he professes not to read. Travelling to a house party following the stylish launch of Diddy's aftershave, he was pictured next to Natasha Bedingfield and rapper Pharrell Williams.

Hamilton said: "I just helped her out of the car, being a gentleman. I don't know."

"It's pretty cool that P Diddy has my number and is in contact with me. Same with Pharrell and other stars that I have always watched on TV. I was just driving down the road listening to him on the ipod and thinking I've got his number. I call him Sean."

Hamilton's life has been transformed since he won back-to-back races in Canada and America last month. He was feted at Goodwood Festival of Speed and is increasingly recognised on the street.

He sensed that even his musical heroes such as Diddy, real name Sean Combs, were starstruck. "That was the unreal thing," he said.

"I got there and it seemed like I was the main attraction. I expected to be a nobody there. Maybe it was because they don't see me very often.

"At the after-party they were coming up to me to ask for my number. Strange but I quite enjoy that.

"The best advice you can give anyone is to be yourself no matter who you are out with, even if it's the Queen. I try to be myself and if anyone asks any more of me then I won't be in touch with them."

After his arrival in Northamptonshire yesterday — by helicopter, what else? — he offered words of encouragement to aspiring young karters on behalf of sponsors Vodafone.

However, he spared no sympathy for his world champion team-mate Fernando Alonso, who trails him by 14 points.

"I don't feel sorry for him," he said. "It's not a case of how I feel. If it was me, it would make me work harder.

"My first win in Canada has to be the highlight of my career. After that, winning my home Grand Prix is the next step. I am here to compete and do the best job. If we are not quick enough this weekend we will still get good points and that is the key to continuing in the championship."

SILVERSTONE'S owners, the British Racing Drivers' Club, are considering a proposal to sell part of the site to a partnership formed by the chairman of the Focus/Wickes chain, Bill Archer, and real estate entrepreneur Mike Rockall.