Lewis Hamilton is at his wit's end with a car he has been unable to defend his Formula One world title with this season.

Although girlfriend and Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger was at the Spanish Grand Prix yesterday to cheer on Hamilton, he finished out of the points in ninth and a lap down on race winner Jenson Button.

The 24-year-old has revealed his McLaren was so tetchy around the Circuit de Catalunya that at times it felt as though he was driving on ice.

"What can I do?" queried a frustrated Hamilton.

"I drove my heart out, as I always do, it's just that the car is not good. I had no grip.

"It's just a shame they [McLaren] haven't given me a car to defend the championship with. It's that bad because I'm driving the socks off it, yet there's just no hope.

"I gave it 100% for the entire race, so ninth place doesn't feel like the proper reward for the team who worked hard all weekend."

With 12 races remaining, Hamilton is 32 points behind Button, and barring a miracle is virtually out of the title race.

Although insisting he is "not even thinking about that," he came close to conceding the game is almost up.

"At the moment we don't have the car to win the championship," added Hamilton.

"But the team have done a fantastic job and every weekend they do a fantastic job. We have great reliability and the morale in the team is high."

It is now a case of roll on Monaco for Hamilton, the scene of one of his greatest victories of last season, and a circuit where he may have a chance of fighting at the front.

With no high-speed corners to contend with, unlike in Barcelona, the McLaren should react more favourably to the demands of the principality's famed street circuit.

"We're all hopeful Monaco will be a better race for us because the absence of fast corners shouldn't hurt us as much as it did here," assessed Hamilton.

"In fact, I'm already looking forward to it."
Sadly for Hamilton, racism again reared its ugly head in Barcelona, with the FIA looking into the latest incident to blight the sport.

BBC pictures caught a man with a blacked-up face, arms and hands, and wearing a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes t-shirt prior to the start of the race.

He appeared to be an isolated figure in a crowd of 92,000, but it was all too reminiscent of the scenes in February last year when Hamilton was racially abused during a test session.

On that occasion a group of people with their faces painted black, wearing curly wigs and t-shirts adorned with the words 'Hamilton's family', caused outrage.

The FIA have confirmed the issue is under review as a spokesperson said: "We are aware of it and we are looking into it."

Circuit boss Ramon Praderas will be on tenterhooks as the FIA made it clear after what transpired 15 months ago that serious sanctions could be imposed if they were to offend again.