LEWIS HAMILTON has again launched a robust defence of his management team.

XIX Entertainment, run by Simon Fuller, were heavily criticised on numerous occasions for seemingly failing to support Hamilton during his times of need during a turbulent 2011 Formula One campaign.

Following a lengthy period running his own affairs after splitting from father Anthony as his manager early last year, Hamilton opted for XIX as he felt they afforded him a bright future in, and away from, F1.

However, the fact Fuller maintained his traditional low profile with a client – attending only two races – suggested the relationship was not cosy.

This week F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone described Hamilton’s decision to team up with Fuller as “a disaster”.

“I think this year XIX have taken a huge amount of criticism which has been massively unfair and that’s a lot to do with me, 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.

“But they’ve taken negative criticism and they’re still there supporting me.

“They’ve never ever had any impact on my thought process of how I handle things. I’ve really taken that all on board myself.”