Hamilton ready to lead McLaren – Whitmarsh
"We're determined that Lewis will be the world champion by this time next year," he said, according to the website of the British magazine Autosport on Thursday.
"Back at our factories in Woking, Brixworth and Stuttgart, people are working incredibly hard to make that happen," Whitmarsh added.
The 49-year-old did not specifically say Hamilton will enjoy preferential treatment over his teammate in 2008, but he made clear that the young Briton is ready to "lead a team".
"He can be the talisman that can take us to a championship," Whitmarsh said.
He explained that Hamilton's readiness to spearhead the team's 2008 efforts is not complicating the search to replace Fernando Alonso.
"There's not a lot of difficulty for the team — we already have within the team two very competitive and great drivers in the form of Pedro de la Rosa and Gary Paffett," Whitmarsh said.
"There aren't many drivers in the world who you could say are materially better than those two, and we're mindful of the stability that using drivers who are already within the team brings us," he added.