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New Hamilton deal 'eminently doable' - Whitmarsh

McLaren says Lewis Hamilton wants to stay at the team © Sutton Images

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• Martin Whitmarsh

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McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh insists he is not worrying about the current state of contract talks with Lewis Hamilton and is confident the British driver will stay on in 2013.

Hamilton's current contract expires at the end of the year and he recently said he had hoped to finalise his future over the summer break. Despite no news on an agreement being reached, Whitmarsh said McLaren is relaxed about the current situation.

"I honestly don't think it is an issue," he told Autosport. "You get a few questions over a weekend about it, and it is clearly fascinating to some people, but I really don't think it is an issue. Lewis and I have spoken two or three times at length. I think we are closer than we have ever been, and I have known him since he was 11, and our conversations have been about how we are going to beat the other teams, and how we are going to try and win races. We don't talk about these issues at race tracks because I don't think it is the right environment."

Whitmarsh added that Hamilton had shown a desire to stay at the team.

"Ultimately it is relatively straightforward. If Lewis wants to stay in the team, which he has told me he does, then he should do. And if we want to keep him, then we should do. If the answer to both those matters is yes, then I think it is eminently doable - so not something that has to have as much focus as turning up at races, trying to bring the quickest car you can and doing the best job possible."

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