Whitmarsh is happy with Hamilton's fighting spirit

Lewis Hamilton watches the final moments of the race from the team garage after the crash.

The McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh has praised Lewis Hamilton's fighting spirit despite the last-lap crash which cost him third place at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday. Although clearly disappointed as Hamilton skidded off the track at Monza, Whitmarsh was adamant that he would not want to change the world champion's attacking style.

"There's no point my denying we'd expected to achieve a lot more here at Monza than a sixth place [from Heikki Kovalainen] and a DNF [did not finish]," said Whitmarsh. "Looking at the positives, though, thankfully Lewis walked away unharmed from what was a pretty big shunt. That was simply the result of his never-give-up attitude, his unquenchable desire to fight until the very last metre of the very last lap."

The crash came as Hamilton pushed his McLaren too far in the final stages of the race in an attempt to overtake Brawn's Jenson Button. "Throughout the final stint he'd been pushing as hard as he possibly could, driving beautifully, right on the limit," Whitmarsh added. "But that's the nature of a driver like Lewis, and there aren't many like him. We wouldn't want him any other way." Hamilton, who recorded the fastest lap times in the first half of the race, apologised to his team but resolved to keep fighting. "I truly believed I could get Jenson. That was the way I was raised, to never give up," said Hamilton.

"I'm sincerely sorry to my team, but they know me, and they know I do absolutely everything I can to win races for them." Despite being beaten to the podium by his Brawn teammate Rubens Barrichello, the championship leader Button breathed a sigh of relief at ending his mid-season barren spell. "Obviously I would rather be in Rubens' shoes, but he did a better job this weekend, so congratulations to him," said Button.

Barrichello cut Button's lead in the championship standings to 14 points, opening up the race to the drivers' title with four races remaining. Meanwhile, Force India will put Indian drivers Karun Chandhok and Neel Jani through their paces in a simulator. The opening for a test driver suggests Germany's Adrian Sutil and Italy's Vitantonio Liuzzi are likely to keep their seats for Force India, who have claimed two top four finishes in two races.

The team owner Vijay Mallya said: "They are loyal and hard working. They are with the team and part of the team, they are doing their best. Unless I have some compelling reason to change, I ask myself why should I change?" @Email:[e-mail]