Hamilton warns McLaren

Asked about his long-term allegiance to the Formula One team at the Chinese Grand Prix, the 2008 world champion preferred to emphasise that he needed to be in a car that could win the championship.

"I don't really envisage anything to be honest," the 26-year-old Briton replied after a long pause when asked by Reuters whether he could envisage spending his whole career at one team.

"I envisage myself winning world championships and doing whatever I need to do to win world championships."

Hamilton missed out on a title in his debut 2007 season by a single point and was mathematically in the running for another last year right up to the final race in Abu Dhabi.

The loyalty question came up after Hamilton was quoted in the team's race preview noting that he had overtaken the late Jim Clark as the driver with the most grand prix starts to have competed for just one team.

Two-times world champion Clark drove only for Lotus between 1960 and his untimely death in 1968, having started 72 races.

Last weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix was Hamilton's 73rd for McLaren.

At the same time, media quoted team boss Martin Whitmarsh as saying he wanted to sign up Hamilton and team mate Jenson Button, the 2009 champion, for "another five years at least".

Asked whether he felt there was something old-fashioned and even intriguing about staying with one team, Hamilton, who has been backed by McLaren since he was 11 and in go-karts, was clear: "Not really.

"I don't think there's any attraction to it whatsoever," he added.

"I don't know what to say, man. I want to win, I've only got a short period of time in Formula One and I want to be competitive.

"We've won a race every year but I want to win championships as well. And that's what we continue to push for.

"If you are in a good place and are happy, then you don't need to go anywhere."

McLaren's current car started its existence looking anything but a world beater, with poor reliability and a lack of performance in testing, but it has emerged as the closest rival to champions Red Bull.

Hamilton was second behind Red Bull's world champion Sebastian Vettel in the Australian season-opener while team mate Jenson Button was runner-up to the young German in Malaysia last weekend.

McLaren hope to be even closer in Shanghai, where Button won for them last season, with new upgrades for the third round of the championship.