McLaren writes off Hamilton

Date published : 08 Jun 2009 - 14:31:17

Martin Whitmarsh has written off Lewis Hamilton's hopes of defending the world title after the McLaren driver suffered his third successive point-less race on Sunday.

McLaren entered the 2009 championship on a high with Hamilton the defending world champion, but their lofty expectations for the season soon came crashing down as they found themselves lagging in the midfield - or worse.

And, despite numerous upgrades to the MP4-24 as well as their use of KERS, the Woking outfit's form has gone backwards in recent weeks, resulting in yet another point-less grand prix in Turkey. "I think you have to say that Jenson looks in good shape, and I am sure he deserves it," Whitmarsh told Autosport. "He has had years of really struggling in the dark and now he is doing a fantastic job, he is in a competitive car and I have to say that he looks like he is going to be the world champion. I think he is doing a fantastic job. "With regards to us, then we have to make sure that we are strong next year.

We have to make sure that the way in which we approach next year is that we apply adequate resource." As for the reason why McLaren, and Ferrari, have struggled so much this season, Whitmarsh has blamed the exertions of last year's title fight. "I think ourselves and Ferrari are still struggling as a consequence of what has happened in the last few years, but at the same time to say we are a racing team and to say we are not going to try and win a race this year is not in our make up," he added.

"It is not in our DNA - we will be pushing hard to see how we can improve the car. We are realistic, we are not making any predictions that we are going to be back there on the podium any time soon. "We are going to keep pushing and learning what we can from this car and making sure that we apply adequate resource to next year's car to make sure we are competitive."