McLaren wants to re-sign Hamilton too

Lewis Hamilton

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton has faced a difficult season thus far, having been involved in a number of incidents and incurring an array of penalties from the stewards. The Woking squad feels it has let the 2008 World Champion down in terms of car pace, but hopes to extend Hamilton’s contract, just as it did with Jenson Button last week.

"Lewis is his own biggest critic," said McLaren Managing Director Jonathan Neale. "He desperately wants to win and he’s understandably not happy when either his team mate beats him or someone else is winning the race or the championship. So after seeing the title slide away this year to Red Bull, he’s tough on himself and very disappointed.

"We would be disappointed if he didn’t feel that way. Lewis is a phenomenal driver. He’s had 16 race wins, is constantly exciting on the circuit and is always in the action. And we love him for that. So certainly I’m concerned to make sure that he feels and understands that we are 100 percent behind him.

"It’s been a difficult season for him. We haven’t given him the car to get the job done, but what he’s done with it has been fantastic. We’re delighted to have re-signed Jenson and we’re confident Lewis wants to stay here and we want Lewis to stay here after next year. We’re very confident he’ll be firing on all cylinders in the car next year.

"We need to give him a car to get the job done and that’s our responsibility. Every driver wants to be in a team that can win, and we can here. We are disappointed in ourselves not to win the World Championship, but we've put up a good fight and on a number of occasions we’ve had the quickest race car, as we saw in Japan."