Hamilton not distracted by spying row

Hamilton, leading the championship by four points from teammate Fernando Alonso, attended the Paris hearing on Thursday to give his support to McLaren, but the Briton says he is facing the Spa race as prepared as always.

"Not really my preparation," said Hamilton when asked if the spy affair had been a distraction, "for the week it definitely affected me. I had to go to Paris, I had a couple of events this week and fly to these different countries and then fly to the track.

"For me I felt it was quite important I was there to support the team as they need as much support as they can," added Hamilton, who will start tomorrow's race from fourth place.

McLaren were stripped of their constructors' points and fined $100 million for being in possession of Ferrari technical information.

The FIA said Hamilton had replied to them saying he had no information to offer, while Alonso and test driver Pedro de la Rosa had both sent "highly relevant" e-mails.

On Saturday, Hamilton explained why he had nothing to give to the FIA.

"This year as you know I was given the opportunity to race for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes and I took the opportunity, just tried to do my job," he said. "I very rarely try to get involved in the technical side of things. I have no reason why I wasn't in contact with both drivers. It was not my problem.

"We talk, but the last time I talked to Pedro via email was in Malaysia, and that was about a female! I don't have Fernando's email address, so we talk when we get to the track.

"I am always interested, I try my best and when I arrive at my track, I do my job, when I am at the factory I go into the wind tunnel and I try to see and understand what is going on."