Martin Whitmarsh says Lewis Hamilton will bounce back from his bad run of form

Whitmarsh thinks that Hamilton has lost none of his ability, but is currently suffering on the back of some confidence-sapping outings.

And, despite fresh scrutiny of Hamilton's driving after another controversial collision with Felipe Massa during the Japanese Grand Prix, Whitmarsh thinks it will only take one good result for the British driver to get back to his best.

"I think he has got to be comfortable in himself, and it will come," said Whitmarsh, when asked by AUTOSPORT about his views on the situation Hamilton finds himself in at the moment.

"He is a great racing driver. His heart is in it, and he is very open about his emotions. He doesn't like not winning, but it will come good. I hope that this time next week we are celebrating one of Lewis' greatest ever victories, and that is entirely possible.

"We all know he has got it, we know we have got a car that can give him a win and he has got the capability to do it. We just have to make sure he has got the focus and ensure that we do that."

Whitmarsh thinks that Hamilton just needs some events to go his way for his outlook to be totally different.

"You look at any top international athlete. Their confidence and form ebbs and flows a little bit, and you have to say that, at the moment, some of it is luck. He is in a situation where he will, and can, recover very, very quickly from that."

Although Hamilton was on the receiving end of yet more criticism from Massa after their Japanese GP coming together, Whitmarsh thinks the incident at the chicane was nothing more than a simple racing accident.

"Sadly they do seem to be magnetised don't they?" said Whitmarsh about Hamilton and Massa. "Lewis did not see him. You could say 'well he should have done', but are the mirrors big enough, good enough? Maybe not, but it was one of those things.

"You could say, because of previous form, it was one of those types of incidents, but I don't think it was. He didn't see him and he moved over. In truth he [Massa] had more space than Jenson [Button] had at the start [after being squeezed by Sebastian Vettel], and if he had moved off line harder he would have avoided it, wouldn't he?"

Whitmarsh believes that Hamilton's biggest hindering factor in the Japanese GP was the slow puncture he suffered during the early laps of the race.

"He paid the price for a slow puncture. We could see it coming, and he had a big misbalance across the rear axle from that. It cost him a couple of places and the coming together with Felipe didn't help either.

"It was a combination of those things that lost him some places and it was tough to come back from that. In fairness to Lewis, he drove a controlled and disciplined race to score some valuable points. But, by his own standards, he will be disappointed by it."