Staying with one team for ever not attractive – Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton has admitted he cannot guarantee his long-term loyalty to McLaren.

Team boss Martin Whitmarsh said recently he would like to keep the 2008 world champion paired with Jenson Button for the next five years.

But while he was groomed by the Woking based team and has never raced elsewhere in F1, 26-year-old Hamilton said in Shanghai that he intends to be in the right place to win more titles.

“I have got only a short period in formula one and I want to be competitive,” British newspapers quote him as saying.

“If you’re in a good enough place and you’re happy then there’s no need to go anywhere,” added Hamilton, who recently signed up Simon Fuller as his new manager.

“I’ve always enjoyed racing here and would like to continue but at the end of the year you have to assess what position you’re in and what’s happened,” he continued.

Asked if he envisages staying with McLaren for the rest of his career, Hamilton answered: “I don’t really envisage anything, to be honest.”

As for whether staying with one team throughout his career is an attractive option, he added: “Not really.  I don’t think there is any attraction to it whatsoever.”

And when asked if loyalty has limits, Hamilton said: “It definitely does.”

Happier to hear about Whitmarsh’s comments about the McLaren lineup was 31-year-old Button, who joined Hamilton at the team last year.

“He hasn’t spoken to me about that yet,” said the 2009 champion said.  “No one has mentioned it to me.  But it’s lovely to hear and I’m obviously doing something right.

“I will grill Martin on it,” he beamed.

© RIF | GMM