Martin Whitmarsh insists Lewis Hamilton is "very supportive" of McLaren despite the team costing his pole position in Spain.
Hamilton put in a fantastic lap in qualifying to take pole position by half a second on Saturday.
But, on his in-lap, the Brit was told by his team to stop the car out on track.
However, F1 regulations all the cars have to return to pit lane with a litre of fuel still on board for the FIA tests.
And as Hamilton didn't, an investigation into the cause of his stoppage was launched.
It was soon discovered that Hamilton's car had just 1.3 litres of fuel in it when he stopped, which meant it could have return to the pits and still have enough for the FIA test.
The Brit was penalised for the infringement and disqualified from qualifying, dropping him to the very back of the grid.
And although Hamilton, who has yet to sign a new deal with McLaren for next season, has cause to be disgruntled, his team boss says the Brit has taken it on the chin.
"Lewis found out probably a few hours afterwards," Whitmarsh told Sky Sports News.
"It was some time in deliberation as you know and his reaction initially was one of shock and disappointment, which is very human.
"But I've got to say I had a number of conversations with him during the course of the evening until about 10 o'clock last night.
"At the end he was incredibly brave about it and forthright and very supportive of the team and myself and just determined to say, okay that's how it is, I've got to go and race tomorrow and I'll make an exciting race."
Whitmarsh added: "He is just that - he is someone who doesn't give up.
"He's going to give everything he can, certainly we've made it difficult for him but he's going to be very fired up and he will produce everything he can and hopefully get up [the order] and score some points."
