Ron Dennis has responded to suggestions that
Lewis Hamilton is in need of a driver coach, by insisting he 'would never, ever have a driver that had to be guided by a third party on how to drive a racing car'.
Prior to the Spanish Grand Prix last weekend, racing legend Sir
Jackie Stewart had claimed that in his view McLaren-Mercedes ace Hamilton was in need of some guidance [see separate story –
click here]. Those comments came in the wake of a calamitous performance in Bahrain, where he crashed in practice, almost stalled at the start of the race and then ran into the back of former team-mate
Fernando Alonso on lap two, ultimately taking the chequered flag a lowly and unlucky 13th.
The Scot had blamed Hamilton's patchy Sepang and Sakhir form on trying to 'go from kindergarten to university overnight', adding that 'even the great Tiger Woods has a man with him'. Following a far more composed and impressive performance in Barcelona, however, Dennis underlined his conviction that his 23-year-old charge has all the help and resources he could need at his disposal within
McLaren.
"Who has a coach?" the Woking-based outfit's team principal fired back when asked about Stewart's remarks. "What top driver has a coach? You are talking about something that doesn't exist.
"I would never, ever have a driver that had to be guided by a third party on how to drive a racing car."
The 60-year-old has also revealed that he considers Hamilton 'too hard on himself', whilst McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh has hinted that the young Briton is 'too giving of himself' in terms of speaking to the media and external requests.
