Martin Whitmarsh is adamant no wedge has been driven between McLaren and Lewis Hamilton in the wake of his tweet gaffe on Sunday.
The McLaren team principal was forced to speak with Hamilton ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix after the 27-year-old posted a picture on Twitter of sensitive telemetry data from qualifying. It resulted in Hamilton being forced to remove the offending tweet, but not before it had been widely re-circulated on the social networking site and picked up by rival teams.
"It was embarrassing for Lewis I think, and I'm sure he will learn from that," said Whitmarsh, speaking to Sky Sports. "But it hasn't driven a wedge (between Hamilton and the team), I've known Lewis since he was 11 years old. He's someone who has grown up in the team, he's grown up in the glow of public criticism. Some things he has learned, some things he is yet to learn."
He added: "He is a deep and soulful individual, but he is going through a difficult time (given the death of a close aunt last week).
"I predict he is going to bounce back and we will see a different Lewis Hamilton in a few days' time in Italy."
