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BUDAPEST - As if they did not already have enough to worry about, Formula One leaders McLaren could face the real risk of Fernando Alonso walking out at the end of the season.
With the double world champion seemingly no longer on speaking terms with 22-year-old British rookie Lewis Hamilton after a turbulent Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, speculation is rife.
"One thing's for sure, Alonso won't be at McLaren next year," a senior figure at another team said at the Hungaroring.
While nothing is certain in Formula One - other than that there will always be intrigue and speculation - the sentiment was strong enough for team boss Ron Dennis to face questions about the Spaniard's future.
"There is an inevitability that these things are rumoured and discussed in other teams," he said after a race yesterday that saw Alonso stripped of pole position and demoted five places on the starting grid.
Hamilton, elevated to pole, led every lap and celebrated his third win in 11 races to go seven points clear ahead of his disgruntled teammate in the drivers' standings.
"He doesn't seem to have been speaking to me since yesterday. So I don't know if he has a problem," Hamilton said at the Hungaroring yesterday.
McLaren were barred from scoring Formula One constructors' points in the race, subject to any appeal, for their role in the qualifying incident.
Both drivers felt aggrieved by what happened when Hamilton ignored repeated requests from the team to allow Alonso to go past earlier in the final qualifying session.
The Spaniard then held up Hamilton in the pit lane for long enough to prevent the Briton beating his time in the dying seconds.
Dennis said the two drivers were contracted to McLaren for "several years into the future".
"We will respect our part of that bargain and that part of the situation. We hope that the drivers respect theirs because that's what a contract is about."
Hamilton's astonishing debut has unsettled the champion, who had hoped to arrive at McLaren as the saviour after a 2006 season without any wins for the Mercedes-powered team.
If he had hoped for No 1 status, he was sadly deceived. McLaren are big on parity between their drivers with no exceptions.
"It is a challenging situation to manage and I fully recognise that," said Dennis, who has been fighting fires within and without after a spying controversy over leaked Ferrari information broke out last month.
"But that goes with my job. I have to take any decisions that are in the interests of the team.
"We are most definitely going to maintain a very firm commitment to our principle of equality."
Alonso complained early in the season that he had yet to feel fully comfortable within the team and reports since then have suggested that the situation has deteriorated.
A Spanish flag in the crowd yesterday summed up the feelings of many Spanish fans about their hero's position - "McLaren Traidor [Traitor]".
Were Alonso to leave, the rumour mill suggests that a return to struggling champions Renault would be the most likely option, although a sabbatical could be another.
Renault have yet to confirm next year's lineup and team boss Flavio Briatore has made it clear he is in no hurry to do so.
"I know nothing about that. We have never had any discussions about that," Briatore said when asked about the rumours. "This is a McLaren problem, not mine."
Hamilton said he had arrived at the circuit yesterday with some trepidation.
"It was difficult to stay focused because obviously you had this feeling in the team, that the team weren't getting any points," he said.
"So you didn't know whether the team hated you, or whether they just hated the situation, who they blamed."
"I just tried to come in with a smile on my face and tried to remain positive through it all and do the same procedure as always," he added.
"So I did go around to the whole team and I said, 'Come on, let's do this, good luck.' There was only one person that didn't [respond]. That didn't really affect me, I just got on and did my job."
- Reuters
