He may have won the Italian Grand Prix, but Lewis Hamilton isn't winning many friends within McLaren or on various message boards and the readers comments sections in newspapers.

While his team is looking to calm the waters and put an end to the ongoing speculation over his future, Hamilton himself seems to be feeding suggestions that he is looking for a change.

Ever since Jenson Button arrived at the team in 2010, McLaren has appeared harmonious with the two drivers getting on like a pair of matesl. On track performances have suggested the pair work well together, pooling resources for the greater good of the team. Team boss Martin Whitmarsh has sung the praises of how the two interact and the way they learn from one another.

"I don't know why Martin would say that," Hamilton said over the weekend. "I couldn't say what I have learned from Jenson.

"I learned from Fernando, but I don't particularly feel I have learned from Jenson."

After a turbulent relationship with Fernando Alonso during his debut season in 2007 many outside the team believed Button's appointment could stir the ghosts of the past. For more than two seasons that wasn't the case, however if Hamilton's current comments are to be taken at face value perhaps that atmosphere is changing.

Indeed, Hamilton's demeanour in recent races has been hard to predict and his body language confusing to read. The 2008 world champion dominated the Hungarian Grand Prix and was in good spirits across the weekend. In Monza he seemed to mope around like someone had kicked his puppy and yet he still controlled the race.

But it was in Belgium that tensions really began to tell, when Hamilton first took to Twitter to vent his frustrations after qualifying. The Tweet was quickly removed, Hamilton clearly thinking better of it in the end, before going a step further the following day by posting telemetry from the pair's fastest laps.

While perhaps intended to explain why he was off the pace in qualifying it was a not insignificant misjudgement, exposing data the teams all work hard to protect. And while little meaningful information was divulged it was indicative of Hamilton's current mindset which appears to have seen him distance himself from the team.

Further, Button was less than pleased with the situation, given the telemetry revealed his own qualifying lap, the 2009 world champion expressing his disappointment.

"I didn't mean to go against my teammate or my team, I just wanted my fans to understand," Hamilton said by way of explanation. "Now I know why I shouldn't and it won't happen again."

His comments were a get-out-of-jail-free card and were swallowed whole by some corners of the media. Hamilton knew full well what he was doing.

He is a seasoned professional, a veteran of more than one hundred Grands Prix and twenty race wins. A man of his experience has the sport's secrecy ingrained into him and should not need the team request he remove the confidential information he'd shared with the world. He should not have need to have been told because he knows better than that in the first place. He was testing the water like a spoilt child testing his parent's limits.

The team has not made a big deal of the situation, Martin Whitmarsh confirming he asked Hamilton to remove the Tweet before laughing the whole situation off. Hamilton meanwhile has continued to use Twitter, though sharing less behind the scenes information than previously.

All the while contract negotiations continue, and are in advanced stages according to McLaren, despite the ongoing rumour that he will be heading to Mercedes next season. Having invested a significant amount of money in him McLaren will not want to see its protégé switch teams, but at the same time it won't be willing to sign him at any cost.

McLaren is the best seat available to Hamilton, and Hamilton the best man to fill it for the team, but clearly both parties need to find some middle ground. While McLaren are saying all the right things in the press, Hamilton seems to be taking a lot more than he's giving.

Mat Coch
mat.coch@pitpass.com

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