Formula One rookie Lewis Hamilton says McLaren are giving him the same chance of winning the title this season as double world champion team mate Fernando Alonso.
The 22-year-old Briton told reporters at the Canadian Grand Prix on Thursday that he was surprised at a controversy triggered by comments he made after finishing second to the Spaniard in the previous race in Monaco.
Hamilton, who has made the best start by any rookie in Formula One history with five successive podium finishes, said then that he was the team's 'number two' driver and had been told to ease off in the race.
McLaren denied favouring one driver over the other, while recognising that they had acted to safeguard the one-two finish, and the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) subsequently cleared them of using illegal 'team orders'.
"The team give me the exact same car as Fernando," said Hamilton at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. "I have got a fantastic group of guys working on my car, who are as good as Fernando's guys if not better.
"I have got a real strong belief in them and all the guys here want to win. No one is biased; they are very, very level and very equal.
"I feel the team are going to give me the car, me and Fernando, to win and I feel it is going to come down to the end [of the season]," added the Briton. "It will just be at the end who is the most consistent and who makes the least mistakes."
Alonso, winner of two of the season's five races so far, leads the championship on account of his victories with Hamilton level on 38 points.
The Briton said both drivers had done a great job in securing McLaren's second one-two of the season in Monaco but that had been overshadowed by the team orders furore.
"I could see it was just getting bigger and bigger," he said. "I was quite surprised that such a big thing was made out of it.
"Alonso did a fantastic job in the race and there is no doubt he did the best job and deserved to win. My time will come though. I am only 22, we have got time."
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