McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh claims Lewis Hamilton can win a Grand Prix before Brackley's Honda team driver Jenson Button.

Hamilton gave an 80,000-plus Silverstone crowd a home performance to cheer with a winning double in the GP2 support races for the British Grand Prix.

That was the only home success from a weekend which saw Button retire with his car in flames after just nine laps following a qualifying blunder.

Button has gone 108 races, all in midfield cars, without breaking his Grand Prix duck and Whitmarsh believes McLaren protege Hamilton could steal his thunder.

He said: "I think he could win a Grand Prix before Jenson. He has the capability and I don't want to be hard on Jenson, he is a very talented, quick driver, but he has committed his future to Honda so I am not going to wish him a victory at the moment am I?

"I wish victories on those in our stable. The British fans really now sense they've got a champion in the making."

Button's position as Britain's great hope is under threat from Hamilton, whose GP2 dominance has put the pressure on paymasters McLaren to fast-track him to a Formula One seat next year.

McLaren chief executive Whitmarsh was one of many in the Formula One paddock impressed by Hamilton's charging drive through the field to win from eighth on the grid.

But McLaren's planning for next season has been turned upside down by Hamilton's rapid progress, with the 21-year-old from Hertfordshire emerging as a genuine contender for a race seat in 2007.

Whitmarsh said: "It was a fantastic performance. At the moment Lewis has really done everything we could have asked of him this year and it makes an intriguing prospect for next year.

"I think he can dominate and win GP2, I think no one doubts that now. One way or another let's hope he is in Formula One next year. Performances like that make it very difficult for us don't they?

"It's great to have someone like that in the stable when you are trying to determine your driver line-up for next year.

"I wouldn't want to rate his chances. We'll see, at the moment we have got to improve the car, once we've done that we will turn our minds in the coming months to who will drive for us next year."

McLaren have already signed current world champion Fernando Alonso for next year, an investment which was backed up yet again by the Spaniard's fifth win of the season at Silverstone.

He easily beat Michael Schumacher to the chequered flag while McLaren's top scorer was Kimi Raikkonen in third.

The Finn is unlikely to partner Alonso at the Woking-based team next year though, with a departure to Ferrari on the cards. His current team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya has done little to advance his claims to retain his seat for 2007, and he finished a distant sixth at Silverstone.