Campos: McLaren are missing Alonso.

Though Lewis Hamilton may deny that he is missing the input of former team-mate Fernando Alonso in his second season in the top flight in 2008, former Formula 1 ace Adrian Campos has claimed both the Briton and his McLaren-Mercedes squad are suffering from the double world champion's absence.

When it was suggested by a reporter from German magazine Auto Motor und Sport that Hamilton's patchy performances this year so far are the legacy of no longer having an experienced driver alongside him - with some believing Alonso helped to guide his team-mate's set-up in 2007 - the 23-year-old was robust in his reply.

"Nonsense!" he fired back. "Fernando and I have a similar driving style, but with the set-up we usually went our separate ways."

Experts within the sport, however, seem to disagree, even within Hamilton's own team. Alonso's former manager and GP2 team owner Adrian Campos told Spanish newspaper El Mundo that in his view the Woking-based outfit was a poorer place for the 2005 and 2006 title-winner's premature departure.

"Fernando arrived last year, put the car on the right track, and they thanked him by basically kicking him out," the 47-year-old said. "And look where they are now."

Indeed, since Hamilton's victory in the season-opener Down Under last month, McLaren has hit something of a slump in fortunes, with just one further rostrum finish - courtesy of Heikki Kovalainen - the loss of its advantage in both the drivers' and constructors' standings and a catalogue of on-track calamities from botched starts to pit-stop fumbles and hefty crashes.

McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh hinted in Barcelona that the team's young charge should focus on himself, telling Home of Sport that the ex-GP2 champion needs to better manage the 'two per cent' of his mind that is concentrated on off-track activities.

"I think Lewis is too giving of himself," Whitmarsh said, alluding to the media frenzy that was whipped up following Hamilton's sensational arrival on the grand prix scene just over twelve months ago. "As a young man, Lewis is that way inclined. I wouldn't say he's overly gregarious or overly outgoing, but he's a lively, young, ambitious individual."

It has also been noted in the Guardian newspaper that one key player missing from the Hamilton camp in 2008 is Dr Kerry Spackman, a neuroscientist who worked closely with the Stevenage-born star in 2007. Former triple world champion Sir Jackie Stewart was in agreement that the erstwhile championship pace-setter needed some sort of 'coach'.

"You cannot go from kindergarten to university overnight," the Scot urged. "Even the great Tiger Woods has a man with him."