McLaren-Mercedes team chief Ron Dennis on Friday said he had restored order between his feuding drivers following clear-the-air talks in Istanbul.
The team issued a statement that said it was it was confident that defending double world champion Fernando Alonso of Spain and championship-leading British rookie Lewis Hamilton had reached an agreement following their meeting in the Turkish capital on Wednesday.
Dennis said: ”I’ve spoken to both of them independently and we were pretty clear. We run our team in a certain way and expect from every member of the team certain behaviours — and the behaviour we expect is not the exclusive domain of drivers.
”They subsequently spoke, have an understanding between themselves, and are completely communicating. Neither has a problem with the other.
”Clearly they are very competitive individuals and for the balance of the season that competitiveness will stay on the circuit. That’s our objective.
”From a team perspective, we will rigidly stick to equality. Sometimes it’s difficult to achieve …”
The feuding duo met team principal Dennis, chief executive Martin Whitmarsh and other senior members of the team on Wednesday in a bid to sort out their row from the last race in Hungary.
Hamilton and Alonso both stayed in downtown Istanbul on Thursday instead of making the journey to the track for the regular media briefings and meetings with race engineers.
The duo was at loggerheads following qualifying in Hungary last month when Hamilton refused to move over for Alonso during the fuel burn-off phase.
Alonso retaliated by delaying his exit from the pit-lane to deny Hamilton an attempt at pole position, but the British rookie was promoted to top spot after race stewards demoted the double world champion five places down the grid.
Hamilton has a seven-point lead over Alonso going into Sunday’s Turkish Grand Prix. — AFP
