The McLaren team chief denied that his team had broken any F1 rules by favouring Alonso against Lewis Hamilton in Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix.
MONTE CARLO: McLaren team chief Ron Dennis denied vehemently that his team had broken any Formula One rules by favouring defending double drivers world champion Fernando Alonso against Lewis Hamilton in Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix.
In the aftermath of a processional race in which the two McLaren drivers finished first and second with ease, but without fighting each other, Dennis said that McLaren did not favour the 25-year-old Spaniard against the 22-year-old British rookie.
He spoke out after being questioned strongly on the team's strategy and team orders, particularly as Alonso, on pole position, began the race in a car that carried five laps less fuel than Hamilton.
This meant that Alonso was not only in a lighter car for qualifying on Saturday, but also in a lighter, faster car for the first part of the race.
Hamilton accepted this after the race with a long face when he said: "I am in car number two so I am the number two driver."
Dennis said he understood Hamilton's disappointment, but pointed out that he would have reacted very differently if the team strategy had played into his hands.
"I think he's understandably disappointed and frustrated," said Dennis. "He would not have been frustrated or disappointed if a Safety Car had been deployed and he won the race.
"Time will tell, wont it? We do not favour anybody. There will be times and places when they are free to race, but this isn't one of them.
"Everybody in the pit-lane and the media would be saying, 'What an idiot the team principal from McLaren is for allowing his cars to compete, when of them is in the barrier.'"
Dennis added that his decisions were not tantamount to team orders, which are banned in Formula One, but formed instead a team strategy to win the race.
"Team orders is what you bring to bear to manipulate a Grand Prix. And we do not, and have not, manipulated Grands Prix, unless there were some exceptional circumstances, which occurred, for example, in Australia ë1998û, when at that time someone had tapped into our radio and instructed Mika Hakkinen to enter the pits.
"That is one of the very rare occasions that there's been a team order.
"I don't feel uncomfortable with them. I sleep easy. I have a clear conscience, both on that particular race - and this race today."
"Everybody feels, I'm sure, that there is some favouritism or some penalisation that is given to Lewis, or Fernando, but we are scrupulously fair at all times in how we run this Grand Prix team.
"But this circuit, inevitably, has to be addressed in a team way and I make no excuses for instructing the racing drivers to slow their pace after the first stop."
After reeling off a debutant record five consecutive podium positions, including four second places in succession, Hamilton made clear after the race that he felt frustrated in not being able to battle to pass Alonso and win Sunday's race.
He had won all his previous three races on the twisting and treacherous street circuit in junior formulae, but this time had to settle for second.
"At the end of the day, I'm a rookie," said Hamilton. "I've come into my first season in Formula One and I have finished second in my first Monaco Grand Prix, so I really can't complain.
"To see that I'm at a similar pace to Fernando is a positive for me, but it's just something I have to live with. I have the number two on my car, and I am the number two driver."
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}