Martin Whitmarsh has urged a "fragile and distracted" Lewis Hamilton to look outside of McLaren for a new manager.
Since the 2008 world champion split professionally with his father Anthony, he has been represented managerially by the Mercedes powered team.
But on the one-year anniversary of the ’lie-gate’ scandal, 25-year-old Hamilton found himself in more hot water when he was charged with reckless driving on Melbourne’s city roads.
The next day, he then failed to qualify inside the top ten, causing team boss Whitmarsh to make the "fragile and distracted", after Hamilton admitted to him that the incident left him "distressed".
It has also emerged that Hamilton’s long time trainer and friend Adam Costanzo is no longer in his entourage in 2010.
But while Hamilton himself denies he is struggling, and insists he feels fully supported by Woking based McLaren, Whitmarsh told the Daily Mail newspaper: "I don’t think McLaren should manage Lewis.
"He should have a dispassionate, independent manager. Having someone with wise counsel who you feel comfortable with is good."
Fascinatingly, Whitmarsh admitted in the pages of the Telegraph that his own boss - McLaren Group chairman Ron Dennis - has "another view".
"The important thing is that it is Lewis’ decision. It’s not overly urgent because he has long-term contracts in place.
"But having someone with wise counsel who you feel comfortable with is a good thing," he added.