As we reported a couple of weeks ago, F1 driver Lewis Hamilton was reportedly “fuming” when pictures of his girlfriend, X Factor judge, Nicole Scherzinger snogging rapper Chris Brown appeared on US websites.

However, it’s been reported today that when Nicole had her “encounter” with Brown, it was after Lewis had told her he wanted a break from their relationship because he was finding their often long-distance love affair difficult to cope with.

So with cries of Ross from Friends’ famous line “We were on a break!” ringing in his ears, Lewis had what The Sun describes as a “crisis meeting” with Nicole to talk about their relationship, after which they decided to give their romance another go.

A source close to Lewis said, “Splitting was his decision. He’s got a lot on his plate at the moment.

“And her commitments on X Factor and his career were clashing over the last few months…

“When he saw the pictures of her with Chris, he flew off the handle. He wasn’t happy at all — even though they were not together any more.”

And of the snogging Chris Brown debacle, the source added, “Lewis wanted to hear it [from Nicole] for himself.”

But as mentioned, the two are now back on track and hoping to keep their love alive, even if it is long distance.

In other news, X Factor finalists MK1 have been forced to remove their tracks from iTunes as per their X Factor contract.

However, apparently their single Money Or Luck was still available on the site as of late last night.

It seems they’d hoped that they could still sell the song because it was recorded when they were a trio. As fans of the show will most likely recall, MK1 first tried out with its two remaining members and their friend Will Baker, who was ditched from the band after the judges said they would only put MK1 through to Boot Camp without him.

A spokesman for X Factor said, “MK1, along with all other contestants, have been asked to remove their recordings as it is essential that all the contestants are treated fairly during the competition and, where possible, receive the same exposure.”

So there.