Hamilton defends management team

Lewis Hamilton has defended his management team after Bernie Ecclestone branded the way he was being managed a "disaster".

Hamilton signed with XIX Entertainment in early 2011 having split from his father Anthony the year before. However, after a difficult year in which off-track issues appeared to be affecting Hamilton's performance in races, Ecclestone said that his management team was not a good fit and that "I think he just fell into a lot of people that I think weren't good for him".

But Hamilton told The Guardian  that the criticism was "massively unfair", and that he's been more in control of the situation than it may appear to some outsiders.

"[It's] my fault really," Hamilton said. "They've wanted to be here every single race, they've been nothing but supportive. I control it and I decided not to have them at every race because I wanted to be on my own at some races. For the future I'll have them at every race."

ESPNF1