Hamilton 'Not at McLaren Soon'

McLaren have supported Hamilton up through the single-seater ladder since Dennis discovered him in karts in the late nineties.

He won the Formula Renault UK championship in 2003 and has been a class ahead of the F3 Euroseries field this season, having won nine out of 12 races.

However, Dennis has admitted he has yet to decide whether to continue to support the Brit, and if so, where the 20 year-old will be placed next season.

Dennis said: "I think that he clearly has exceptional talent and speed in the category he is in but you never know how they will do in Formula One. It is impossible to see him racing a McLaren-Mercedes in the immediate future.

"At some time, and it is not now, we will decide several things: if we are going to continue to support him, if we are going to play an active role in determining which team and which category he goes in, all of those things will unfold but none of those things have been decided yet."

The most obvious step would be GP2, however McLaren could be a potential conflict with its series backer Renault. However, Mercedes-backed driver Alexandre Premat runs in the series without a 'Powered by Renault' sticker on the car's sidepod.

Another option for Hamilton could be to replace Alex Wurz as one of the team's full time test drivers next season. The Austrian's contract with the Woking squad expires at the end of the season, and he could leave to pursue a race drive elsewhere.

Dennis added: "We have a common position on what is likely to happen but there are a few things that have to fall into place that will make the decisions easier, which haven't yet fallen into place."

While a decision is being made, Dennis has called on Hamilton to continue his dominance of the series until the final race, and not to ease off if he wraps up the title at the next round at the Nurburgring, with six races remaining.

Dennis added: "Norbert [Haug] and I have control in respect with all drivers and there are some very talented drivers driving DTM cars as well.

"The position with Lewis is we want him to maintain to the end of his Formula Three championship the domination that he has had to date, and it has been a dominating championship."