He said: "Ron Dennis showed me the MP4-12C prototype a few months ago - it's a bit different to now to how it was before."

"I think it looks great and I understand there's been a lot of interest. Inevitably if Ron is head of anything it's going to be a great car."

Hamilton said his team mate Heikki Kovalainen had also been shown the new car.

Their F1 McLarens are powered by Mercedes, who revealed their new SLS supercar the day after McLaren's MP4-12C broke cover.

Hamilton said: "I was at the launch for the Mercedes SLS as well - I don't have either of the cars yet but if Mercedes want to give me one I'd be very happy.

"At the moment I have a Mercedes GL and a Mercedes CLK AMG and I'm happy with those."

Reigning champion Hamilton has been promised a McLaren F1 GTR by his employers if he wins two more world championships.

Speaking during today's Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes media phone-in, Hamilton shrugged off questions about the controversy involving his former team mate Fernando Alonso.

Alonso won last year's Singapore Grand Prix but it was recently discovered it was because his team mate, Nelson Piquet Jnr, was instructed to crash his car.

Hamilton said: "I haven't been reading about it and I haven’t followed it.

"I've been focussing on my job and the preparations for next year's car and winning the world championship."

However he welcomed the news that next year's F1 calendar has been expanded to 19 rounds.

He said: "The more races the merrier. As racing drivers we love going to different countries and doing different races."