McLaren's principal race engineer Phil Prew insists that despite an "up and down season" the team has no desire to change Lewis Hamilton's approach to racing.

While having given some of the finest performances of his career this year, there have also been numerous low points, too many brushes with the barriers, rivals and the stewards.

Ahead of the final European race of the season however, Prew believes that Hamilton will learn from his mistakes.

"Lewis is a very clever guy and a very good racing driver," he said during the latest Vodafone McLaren phone-in. "He will reflect on the difficulties he's had and come back stronger.

"Lewis has had an up-and-down season," he admitted. "Lewis is a great driver who has won races this year and every year he's driven for McLaren. He's always pushing very hard.

"Obviously he came into the season with great hopes of winning the championship and that's going to be an upward struggle from here. Pushing hard brings some consequences of high risk. I think that's what we're seeing.

"We will not ask him to change," he added. "Lewis is Lewis. He gets results with a very charging, aggressive approach. We fully support that. We've seen it's won him championships and that's our intention."