McLaren deny favoring Alonso over Hamilton
MONACO: McLaren denied favoring double world champion Fernando Alonso in the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday after rookie teammate Lewis Hamilton suggested he had been forced into a supporting role.
Team boss Ron Dennis said the 22-year-old joint championship leader and runner-up to Spaniard Alonso in a dominant McLaren one-two, would have won had the safety car been deployed.
For the first time this season, the Briton appeared less than ecstatic with second place - his fifth podium in five Formula One starts.
"I have the number two on my car, and I am the number two driver," he told a news conference.
Hamilton had qualified on the front row with a far heavier car than Alonso on pole position.
Alonso led from the start but when Hamilton had the chance to build up a gap, after the Spaniard's first pitstop, he was unable to do so because the team called him in to refuel earlier than expected.
"I was actually quite surprised because I was fuelled to go five, nearly six, laps longer than Fernando and they stopped me with three laps," said Hamilton. "That's unfortunate but it's the way it goes."
Alonso explained that he had in fact gone two laps longer than scheduled because he had used less fuel than expected in the opening laps and Dennis was adamant there was no hidden agenda.
He said his job was to make difficult decisions and Monaco was a unique circuit where the introduction of the safety car, deployed in four of the last five years, could wreck the best-laid plans.
The two drivers therefore had to be on radically different strategies.
"Everybody feels I'm sure, and a lot of people will feel it in England, that there is some favoritism or some penalisation that is given to either Lewis or Fernando," he added.
"But we are scrupulously fair at all times in how we run this grand prix team.
"We will never favour one driver, no matter who it is. We never have, we never will."
Dennis confirmed he had instructed both drivers to slow their pace after the first pitstop to limit risks and protect the one-two. With no major accidents, the safety car remained absent.
"I don't like to slow drivers down, I don't like them to be frustrated," he said. "I don't like to see these things happen, because I am an absolute racer. It's just the way you have to win the Monaco Grand Prix, which is what we've done.
"If the safety car was deployed, Lewis Hamilton would have won the race."
Agencies
(China Daily 05/29/2007 page23)
