"It would be wrong," said the 22-year-old Briton, still suffering the effects of a heavy night out after letting the title slip from his grasp by one point in Sunday's season-ending race in Brazil.
"For me, I want to win it on the track," he told reporters in his hotel room. "You want to do it in style, you want to win the race, you want to win battling it out for the lead or something in the race. Being promoted after some people have been thrown out is not the way I want to do it."
The rookie, Formula One's first black driver and the title favourite before Sunday's race, lost out to Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen after finishing seventh on a nightmare afternoon at Interlagos.
Raikkonen won the race but the Finn's first title was overshadowed by a stewards' enquiry into the three cars that finished ahead of Hamilton. McLaren have said they intend to appeal against the stewards' subsequent decision not to penalize Williams' Nico Rosberg and BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica for fuel temperature irregularities. The aim would be to lift Hamilton above them in the classification, securing the points he needs to become champion instead.
The Briton, winner of four races in a sensational debut season, said he would feel uncomfortable with that. "It would feel weird after Kimi did such a fantastic job in the last two races," he said. "He won and to have it taken away is a bit cruel and probably not good for the sport."
Hamilton, who had led teammate and double world champion Fernando Alonso by four points and Raikkonen by seven before Interlagos, paid tribute to his team and supporters.
"Last night was good and (team boss) Ron (Dennis) did a speech and we had a great evening and just sort of rounded up the whole year," he said. It has been a phenomenal year and the support from the team makes it just a real pleasure for me to be a part of the team.
Alonso's future is key to F1 driver market
McLaren's Fernando Alonso is the key to the Formula One driver market, with several teams waiting on him before announcing their 2008 lineups. The double world champion has a contract but is far from certain to be staying after falling out with bosses and accusing them of favoring teammate Lewis Hamilton. A sizeable section of the paddock is convinced the Spaniard will be leaving McLaren, a view fuelled by the driver's continued criticism of the team. McLaren have stonewalled questions about his future but, with the season now over, it is a leading item on the agenda. “It will be addressed over the course of the next two weeks,” team boss Ron Dennis said after Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix.
International
