Nicole Scherzinger took a swipe at her ex-boyfriend Lewis Hamilton during 'The X Factor' auditions earlier this week.

Nicole Scherzinger

Nicole Scherzinger

The 38-year-old singer seemingly poked fun at her former lover, whom she split from last year after eight years of on/off dating, after one of her contestants performed his rendition of her track 'Run' during filming of the Six Chair Challenge.

After wannabe pop star Niall Sexton, from Northern Ireland, finished the song, show boss Simon Cowell joked: "What's the song called? Run. Why does it make me think of Lewis Hamilton? He's fast. Let's dedicate that to Lewis, shall we?"

The bronzed beauty's jaw dropped to the floor, while the audience gasped, before she turned to the 56-year-old music mogul and replied in a sarcastic tone: "Yeah, let's dedicate those lyrics and that song to Lewis shall we?"

The former lovers called time on their romance last year and, although they've gone on to date other people, Nicole's recent comment proves there's still bad blood between them.

Since their split, the 31-year-old racing car ace has been romantically linked to a string of beauties including Barbara Palvin, Petra Nemcova and Kendall Jenner.

He's recently been spotted flirting up a storm with Rita Ora, fuelling speculation they could be heading for a romance.

Nicole, on the other hand, is loved up with Grigor Dimitrov.