Lewis Hamilton shocked by McLaren's fall from grace

Lewis Hamilton "cannot believe" that McLaren now find themselves fighting at the back of the grid on a regular basis.

The double world champion came through the junior ranks with McLaren backing and made his F1 debut with the team in 2007, winning the drivers' title a year later.

In all, Hamilton won 21 grands prix during his six years with the team before joining Mercedes and has expressed his amazement that the former superpowers now find themselves so far down the field.

"It feels very weird when you look at the board and you think of this historic team fighting with Manor," Hamilton said.

"It just does not make sense and I still cannot believe today that the team has got to this point.

"There is only one way for them which is a good thing. It can only get better and I am sure they are working as hard as they can."

McLaren haven't won a race since Hamilton departed in 2012. Since then, a double podium finish in Australia last year is the only silverware to head back to Woking.

With McLaren chief Ron Dennis adamant that a customer Mercedes team could not challenge for the world title, the team persuaded Honda to return to F1, switching to Japanese power at the start of 2015.

However, an underpowered engine has been hampered further by chronic unreliability. That has led to a series of grid and in-race penalties and the team have only finished in the points at three of the first 11 races.

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