Whitmarsh: Hamilton unfazed by crash

The Briton crashed out of the race with less than two laps to go while he was trying to catch second-placed Jenson Button.

It was the second race in a row that Hamilton failed to finish after being taken out of the Belgian Grand Prix.

"You don't get to being a world champion without having a few crashes along the way," Whitmarsh said. "He is very strong mentally and he knows how good he is. He knows that if you explore the limits then occasionally you go over them.

"I would not give that a moment's thought. It is not an issue. I spoke to him a few minutes ago. He is strong and he will be out there trying to win Singapore.

"We are going to upgrade the car, and it is a circuit that will probably suit us more than here. And Lewis will want to make sure he wins the race - it is as simple as that."

Whitmarsh said the team held as much responsibility for the crash as Hamilton, having not told the Briton to ease off and bring the car home.

"That is Lewis, and as I said, I have got to hold as much responsibility for it," he said. "But he was closing on Jenson, and if he could have got close enough to Jenson then I think he could have got second place. We are a racing team.

"We are not trying for a championship in the same way as we normally are, and I think that people who are viewing don't want to see a world champion saying I only want third place, I am comfortable with that.

"He is a world champion, driving for McLaren, and if there is a chance to come second, which there was a chance, then you have to go for it. We are not playing the points game particularly at the moment, we want results."

The McLaren boss admitted he was disappointed with the performance of Hamilton's team-mate Heikki Kovalainen in the race, after the Finn, who had qualified a strong fourth, finished in sixth position.

"Yes, of course I am, and so is Heikki. I think it was a great, great qualifying. We had spread bet and were in the position of being at the front of the one-stoppers and the front of the two-stoppers. But, it was disappointing.

"We may have made a mistake as a team as we had him on the prime tyre. He had no grip and was struggling. In hindsight, we probably should have started on the option tyre, so that contributed to it. Once you drop back through the grid, it is pretty difficult to recover from that situation."

Whitmarsh denied, however, that the Finn's showing had a shut the door on a possible contract renewal.

"No, of course he hasn't. We take a longer term view of his performance and his contribution to the team, and he is a great team player and a great asset to this team.

"At the end of the day, the most difficult thing is to find drivers who are quick, and he is quick, he is technically good. He has lifted his game today and maybe we contributed to that with the wrong tyre choice."