Hamilton booted out of McLaren

LEWIS HAMILTON says his relationship with his former team McLaren is the pits after he was thrown out of their garage.

The Brit quit the team in the winter to join rivals Mercedes after spending six years racing in F1 for the Woking-based team.

But when Hamilton went to make a friendly check on his former team-mates during the winter testing session in Jerez, Hamilton claims he was booted out of their garage.

He said: “I went to see them in Australia but I also tried to see them in Jerez, at the test.

“But (sporting director) Sam Michael threw me out of the garage. That wasn’t very positive and I don’t feel very good about that.”

However, the team have hit back by insisting Hamilton was wrong to go into the garage in the first place while mechanics were working on highly-secretive parts.

Although they have welcomed him back into their motorhome during future race weekends.

Matt Bishop, McLaren’s PR Director, said: “Sam didn’t throw Lewis out of our garage.

“Rather, he gently guided him out, since our car was being worked on by our mechanics at the time, with a number of its dismantled components clearly visible, which no-one from a rival team should see.

“Lewis knew he shouldn’t have been in our garage in the first place, just as all team personnel know they shouldn’t enter rival teams’ garages.

“But Lewis has spent time in our paddock hospitality units at a number of grands prix so far this season, and he’s always been warmly welcomed when he’s visited us.”

Hamilton’s relationship with his mentor, Ron Dennis, hit a low when news that he was jumping ship first broke.

But the 28-year-old, who initially refused to one day return to McLaren, insists he is still on good terms with the team’s boss Martin Whitmarsh.

He added: “Martin has been great and I have to say that I haven’t had enough contact, so I will give Martin a call.”

Meanwhile, McLaren have been struggling for speed this week in Bahrain and Jenson Button does not expect to match his fifth-place finish he posted in China last weekend.

And he admits that after his world championship-winning season with Brawn in 2009, and three successful years with McLaren, slugging it out in the midfield is tough to deal with.

He said: “It is difficult. The first race was bad and to see such an improvement in the second and third races is exciting.

“But I don’t think it is a case of getting better this weekend because I have not got anything to get better with.

“The race in China was great. It was a fantastic effort from the team who did a great job over the race weekend.

“We got everything out of the car and running the strategy we did during the race was very tricky.

“Here, they have taken away the soft tyre, which is a pitty because I think that could have helped us, but if we run the same strategy as everyone else, it is going to be tricky to finish fifth.

“It’s very complicated but there are a lot of things we need to improve and by changing one thing could help us in other areas.”