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Whitmarsh: Hamilton happy at McLaren

McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh has played down suggestions that Lewis Hamilton is looking to leave the British outfit

As revealed by AUTOSPORT, Hamilton met with Red Bull boss Christian Horner during the Canadian Grand Prix weekend, triggering speculation about his future.

The former world champion, however, is very happy at McLaren, according to Whitmarsh, who says his team has no plans to change its driver line-up at the moment.

"As a general statement we have two great drivers in the team," Whitmarsh told reporters during a Vodafone phone-in on Thursday. "I think they enjoy being in this team, they both want to win and you've seen them racing each other, and had the cars to prove that.

"We will talk about the future with them when the time comes but at the moment, we're not planning on a different driver line-up.

"We're very fortunate to have two great drivers, they are great in the team, they are great with one another and I think in an odd way the last race weekend, to have your two drivers make contact and one consequently not finish the race is not what you want to happen... but I think oddly if you look back at it, the relationship between those two drivers after such an incident was remarkably strong."

He added: "Ultimately Lewis will decide where he is going, but I think he enjoys being in this team. Lewis, as a top driver, will be linked to any top team that the media thinks can afford him or satisfy his expectations.

"I don't pay too much attention what's written in the media, in my experience it hasn't been a good guide to what is really happen on driver negotiations."

Whitmarsh also believes Hamilton will bounce back following two difficult weekends in Monaco and Canada.

"I had a chat to him after Monaco, but that was primarily about what happened out of the car rather than what happened in it. He is a racing driver, he doesn't need much chat from me.

"I saw him a couple of nights ago and he's in good shape. I know he didn't like not winning, he didn't particularly enjoy the last two race weekends and I'm sure he will be looking to forward to this one."

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