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LONDON - McLaren boss Ron Dennis looked forward to Formula One's summer break with the air of an exhausted swimmer reaching for a lifeline. "It's a very, very pressured job at the moment. Would anyone like it?" he enquired with a thin smile at the weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix as reporters pressed around.
Dennis could still joke, but only just. His team are leading the championship but no sooner do things appear to be going right, than they go sensationally wrong again.
The time off before the next race in Turkey on Aug. 26 offered a welcome respite.
Already battling Ferrari on and off the track, with a spying controversy overshadowing the past month, the championship leaders began fighting among themselves as well at the Hungaroring. And this time it was self-inflicted.
Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, first and second in the championship, were no longer on talking terms on Sunday after a qualifying that laid bare the internal divisions.
Double world champion Alonso took pole position, but only after Hamilton was blocked behind him in the pit lane. The delay cost the 22-year-old British rookie the chance to go faster.
Race stewards took a dim view and what might have seemed an internal dispute resulted in Alonso being demoted five places, Hamilton getting pole and McLaren denied constructors' points.
The team may appeal, although Dennis hinted at a rethink on Sunday, and must also face another hearing into the spying saga.
Back foot
Having escaped penalty in front of the governing body in Paris last month, due to insufficient evidence that they had benfited from Ferrari information found at the home of their chief designer, McLaren are again on the back foot.
If the FIA's international appeal court overturns the earlier verdict, there could be serious implications for McLaren's title hopes.
Saturday's stewards' decision that the team had committed an act 'prejudicial to the interests of the competition and to the interests of motor sport generally' will not have helped.
Dennis, who described himself as devoid of feelings and "completely drained of emotion", said his job now was to take the heat out of the situation.
"Between now and the next grand prix we will definitely try and put some calmness in the team," he said.
"You very often get the expression 'character building'. I can tell you I'm 60 years old and I don't need my character building any more. This is extremely challenging for me, emotional and stressful," he added.
Dennis ruled out focusing on one driver, even if constant efforts to be even-handed sometimes backfired, and stressed the importance of team work.
"We built the team and company on parity," he asserted.
"There are many teams who share that value but do not have either a competitive racing car or two competitive racing drivers. When you get a combination of those two values then you are definitely going to have a hard time."
"We will continue to function as a grand prix team with specific values and if anybody does not want to be part of those values, irrespective of where they sit in the organisation, then ultimately they all have a choice," said Dennis.
"But we will not deviate away from our values."
- REUTERS
