Martin Whitmarsh has backed Lewis Hamilton’s decision earlier this year to tread a new path in his professional career.<\/p>\n
The 2008 world champion’s split with his manager and father Anthony was reported as a significant disruption in his life, but team boss Whitmarsh indicated that it was not the only step taken by the 25-year-old for his future.<\/p>\n
“Lewis was in bits at the start of the year,” he is quoted by the Telegraph.<\/p>\n
“But it was always going to come about because he was suffocated to an extent by his dad and Ron (Dennis).”<\/p>\n
Dennis, Whitmarsh’s predecessor and long-time McLaren chief, groomed and nurtured Hamilton from his first signature on a team contract as a boy.<\/p>\n
“They (Anthony Hamilton and Dennis) would hate to think it, but they are quite similar characters,” said Whitmarsh.\u00a0 “They are controlling influences.”<\/p>\n
But now on his own, Hamilton’s next step is the likely appointment of a global management giant to expand his image and marketability beyond the F1 paddock.<\/p>\n
“There is concern (about that),” Whitmarsh admitted, adding that there are “vulnerabilities” in Hamilton’s makeup.<\/p>\n
“When he establishes the management structure he wants – and I hope he does it during the winter as I do not want it to be a distraction – then I hope they keep it simple,” said the Briton.<\/p>\n
“Lewis could rewrite the F1 record books.\u00a0 He could become the greatest ever,” claimed Whitmarsh.<\/p>\n
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