Hamilton hits back after Ron Dennis comments

Lewis Hamilton has hit back at former mentor Ron Dennis’ claim he has gone "off the rails" with his behaviour since switching to Mercedes.

McLaren supremo Dennis, having groomed the British driver from childhood to F1 stardom, said this week that while he was once a "surrogate father" to Hamilton, he now has "mixed feelings".

"Wait a minute — surrogate father? Isn’t a woman a surrogate mother? Is there (such a thing as) a surrogate father?" Hamilton wondered.

That aside, 30-year-old Hamilton lashed back at Dennis’ claim that the reigning world champion "wouldn’t be behaving the way he is" if he was still at McLaren.

"I am a three-time world champion," Hamilton hit back. "Who I am today is who I am, and I will behave this way regardless of who I am working for.

"I don’t feel like I behave wrongly. I don’t think it is a negative. It has obviously been a positive impact on my career so it is not me that needs to make any changes," he added.

Indeed, it is Hamilton and Mercedes who dominated in 2015, while McLaren has had arguably the worse season in its entire history with works Honda power.

Referring again to Dennis’ comments about his behaviour, Hamilton added: "I don’t know why he is touching on that subject. Maybe he has nothing else positive to talk about!"