McLaren team chief Martin Whitmarsh has backed Lewis Hamilton to bounce back from his recent string of disappointments to win again and be a title contender next season.

Whitmarsh said he believed the 26-year-old Englishman’s difficulties this year have sapped his confidence, but he is just one win away from rediscovering his form as the world’s fastest and most exciting racing driver.

Speaking after the Japanese Grand Prix won by Hamilton’s team-mate Jenson Button, Whitmarsh said: “He’s a great racing driver. His heart is in it and he is very open about his emotions. He doesn’t like not winning, but it will come good.

“I hope that this time next week we are celebrating one of Lewis’s greatest ever victories – and that is entirely possible. We all know he’s got it, we know we’ve got a car that can win and he has got the capability to do it.

“We just have to make sure he has the focus.”

Whitmarsh spoke out as Hamilton avoided being dragged into a new controversy after a brush with Brazilian Felipe Massa, of Ferrari, in Sunday’s race in which Hamilton finished fifth.

Massa blamed Hamilton for their third collision this year and second in successive races.

Hamilton accepted the blame, apologised and said he had not seen him in his mirrors, a hint that was taken by Whitmarsh who promised the team will look into the problem.

He added: “I think he has got to be comfortable in himself, and it will come.

“You look at any top athlete. Their confidence ebbs and flows a little bit and you have to say that, at the moment, some of it is luck. He is in a situation where he will, and can, recover quickly from that.

“Sadly, they do seem to be magnetised don’t they? Lewis did not see him. You could say ‘well he should have done’, but are the mirrors big enough, good enough? Maybe not, but it was one of those things.”