IMO it shows a couple of things (all speculation, I accept!)
1. That people's perception of Whitmarsh's feelings towards his two drivers haven't been far wrong in the past - he liked Jenson more and it crept into his interviews (I'm absolutely sure it did not creep into any decisions made by the team or anything important).
2. Whitmarsh's feelings clearly had a lot to do with the attitude of his respective drivers. And 2012 Lewis is right up Whitmarsh's street, in the same way that Jenson has been the past couple of seasons (and I'm sure continues to be).
To me, it's another advantage Hamilton's new approach is bringing him, along with the improved on track performances - getting the team behind you is a big part of this sport, people are only human and are going to react to what they perceive as being a team player or not.
Shame Hamilton didn't get this sorted earlier, but I'm glad he seems to have turned things around. There's always been a bit of criticism of him that he never served an apprenticeship in one of the lower teams - I wonder if last year's struggles may end up being that for him, and have made him a much better all round F1 pilot. I've certainly been extremely impressed so far this season.
I find the whole relationship between MW and Lewis intriguing.
From what I understand he was closer to Lewis and Anthony and had more involvement than Ron did in Lewis's pre-F1 career at macca. They've obviously had run ins in the past when they disagreed on Lewis not going straight to GP2, although one assumes that was more between Martin and Anthony than Lewis.
Then Lewis came in and was the golden boy in F1...and during times he struggled since then (I'm thinking particularly of liegate, hoongate and last year) Martin seemed very protective of Lewis in interviews, defending him constantly.
It seems clear there has been a change in relationship between Lewis and the team (and his father come to that) since 2008/09 or so, I guess Martin couldn't fail to be affected by that, particularly as Jenson seems a genuinely good bloke and team player, obviously more balanced and more mature than Lewis, perhaps he was a bit of fresh air for Martin.
Some members on here seem to have some inside information that there has been tension between the two of them for some time, although personally I don't detect it so much from interviews etc, as I said he seems to defend Lewis a lot when things go wrong and I tend to put any lack of praise when Lewis does well down to the level of expectation.
It would be nice if 2011 was the culmination of his 'growing pains' and he has now matured both as man and a racing driver - back close with his father, back close with the team and back to driving consistently quickly but measured as per 2007 and 2010.
Love it if Anthony's words quoted in this thread or another recently re: 'the new Lewis hamilton' were bang on, I'm actually getting excited typing this post - how sad is that?! Anyhow, I was concerned before the race that it could lead to a monaco 2011 type performance and derailing of his season as per last year...really impressed with his performance and his attitude, clearly Martin is too, long may it continue...