I will never leave McLaren - Hamilton
Dennis says team turnover will drop by more than a third
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton has said he is so tied to McLaren that he will never leave the British team.
Hamilton, 23, became the youngest driver to win the world title when he snatched fifth place on the final bend of November's season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix.
"I was born and grew up at McLaren. It is my home. Yes, I confirm I will never change team," Hamilton told Italian daily Corriere dalla Sera yesterday.
McLaren team boss Ron Dennis has had a long-standing relationship with Hamilton and the driver highlighted this as a major reason for his desire to stay at McLaren.
"I have a lot of respect for Ron and what he has done for me," he added.
Hamilton also had words of comfort for fellow British driver Jenson Button, who could be without a team next season after Honda announced on Friday it would withdraw from Formula One because of the global financial crisis.
The team will fold if a buyer is not found.
"It's a sign for sure. We've known for a bit that there are problems to resolve in the motoring world. I'm sorry for the team and for Button. I hope he finds a way out," he said.
Meanwhile, McLaren expect their revenues to fall by more than a third as a result of the global economic crisis, according to Dennis.
"Our budgets come from the advertising budgets of the companies that support us, and inevitably advertising budgets get slashed or, at least, are significantly trimmed in times of economic strife," he told reporters.
"We know we have to reduce our costs to cater for the inevitable downturn in income that is coming in 2010 and 2011.
"We predict that our turnover will drop from 280 million pounds a year to as low as 175 million pounds a year," said Dennis.
McLaren are 40 per cent owned by Mercedes with 30 per cent in the hands of Bahrain's state-owned Mumtalakat holding company and the remainder shared equally between Dennis and Saudi business partner Mansour Ojjeh.
Their main sponsors are telecoms giant Vodafone and Spanish bank Santander.