Lewis Hamilton's PR disaster on Thursday, when he found himself suspended on a trapeze wire in an Istanbul theatre at the behest of Vodafone, has underlined the importance of him having his own media consultant to protect him from such misadventures.

Had he been properly advised, the 23-year-old World Championship runner-up of last year would not have taken part in the stunt. But surprisingly, perhaps, Hamilton still has no one looking after his own interests.

Although Hamilton closely identifies with McLaren Mercedes, a team he has been associated with since the age of 13, there will always be occasions when his interests and needs are divergent from those of the team or any of their 32 sponsors and suppliers.

Hamilton is still being managed by his father, Anthony, who has resisted suggestions that his son needs an agent or media consultant. The example to follow is the set-up created by Michael Schumacher. In addition to the Ferrari PR team, Schumacher employed his own media consultant, Sabine Kehm, a German former journalist who reported to him only.

Her role was to protect Schumacher's image and time commitments as against those of Ferrari and their sponsors. No doubt Kehm would have spotted the danger in Istanbul and pictures and images that will dog Hamilton for years would never have been taken.

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