Martin Whitmarsh confident Lewis will stay

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh is confident that the teams star driver, Lewis Hamilton, will remain with the team after this season. With the Woking-based outfit suffering several disastrous results in recent weeks, rumors have begun to surface of the 2008 World Champion potentially leaving McLaren once his contract ends this season.

However, Martin Whitmarsh believes that Lewis Hamilton will eventually decide to remain a McLaren driver regardless of poor results of recent races. Since the Briton’s illustrious victory at the Canadian Grand Prix last month, the team have endured frustratingly uncompetitive results in comparison to rival teams such as Red Bull and Ferrari.

Whereas Red Bull and Ferrari have scored 52 and 55 points respectively in the last two races, McLaren have only managed an embarrassing 9 points. This has seen the Woking-based outfit fall to 4th in the Constructors’ Championship with Lotus now residing in 3rd place behind Red Bull and Ferrari. However, Martin Whitmarsh does not believe a few more uncompetitive races could put the Briton in a stronger negotiating position.

“No, I think we’re going to the next two races to try and win, as we do with every race.” Explained Martin Whitmarsh, “I think Lewis is more intelligent than that and I hope the same applies to the media. I don’t think we should put any timeframe on it [contractual negotiations]. I think it’s something that’s got to be determined for both parties preferably before the end of the season. I don’t think there’s any need to do so against any tight timeframe for that resolution.”

McLaren are heading to this weekend’s German Grand Prix with many new upgrades on their car, which they hope will propel them to their 9th victory in Germany. Lewis Hamilton won last year’s German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, however the team haven’t won a race around the Hockenheimring since 2008 when Lewis Hamilton triumphed on his way to his one and as of yet only World Drivers’ Championship.

“We will have quite a lot of quite noticeable updates on the car in Germany.” Continued Martin Whitmarsh, “The sidepods from the front to the rear are quite different so you’ll notice those and there are other bits and pieces that the sharper-eyed will see. And clearly there are some parts which are hidden to the naked eye. So they are the main area of modifications and they will be reasonably noticeable.”

With Lewis Hamilton stating he’ll wait for the summer break before making any decisions on his future, McLaren are in desperate need of a competitive result. Coupled with the upgrades added to their car for this weekend, the Woking-based outfit will be striving to prove a point throughout the German Grand Prix weekend.

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