Hamilton's father visits Maranello

Aug.1 (GMM) Anthony Hamilton, the father of Mercedes driver Lewis, has been at Ferrari's Maranello headquarters this week.

That is the claim of the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, as the already intense 2014 'silly season' steps up into an even higher gear.

Hamilton snr no longer handles the career of his 28-year-old son, who switched from McLaren to Mercedes over the winter, but the driver said in Hungary that he has been in close contact with his father recently.

Anthony Hamilton is also Force India driver Paul di Resta's former manager, but that pairing ended acrimoniously a year ago, when Hamilton vowed to sue the Scot for wrongful termination.

Repubblica said Hamilton snr was at Ferrari for "private meetings", and then continued those talks with dinner at the famous Montana restaurant.

The specialist magazine Autosprint poked fun at the Hamilton-at-Ferrari reports.

"Maybe he wanted to propose himself for Massa's place? Or maybe he just wants to buy a 458?"

The rumours, however, don't even stop there.

Hot on the heels of reports Kimi Raikkonen could replace the possibly Red Bull-bound Fernando Alonso, Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport mentioned Jenson Button as a possible 2014 Ferrari driver.

Writing in Auto Motor und Sport, the respected correspondent Michael Schmidt said the 'silly season' has gone completely "crazy" in 2013.

Agreed Blick's Roger Benoit: "Only Schumacher's comeback is missing now!"

What about a 1992 world champion as well?

Exasperated at the spiralling sillyness of the silly season, Red Bull's Christian Horner is quoted in Dutch reports as proposing: "Nigel Mansell is a very good driver.

"Why not Nigel?"