With five races remaining in the 2007 world championship season, the atmosphere at the McLaren Mercedes team is still hostile. In an attempt to correct things, the team held a six and half hour meeting on the Thursday before the Turkish grand Prix at a hotel in downtown Istanbul, where according to our spies in Turkey, team bosses Ron Dennis and Martin Whitmarsh told their drivers in separate meetings how they intend to run the team.

"We will treat our drivers absolutely equally, as we always have. There is no way that one driver will get extra service."

Rookie racer Lewis Hamilton seemed to understand this, but for teammate Fernando Alonso, it did not sit as well, the double world champion telling his McLaren bosses that he expects better support from them because it is due to his input that they are fighting for the title.

"At my test in Jerez in December 2006, I gave the engineers the right direction to go in."

But tam boss Ron Dennis did not agree with his drivers opinion…

"It is impossible to quantify who has contributed how much to the improvement of the car."

Another team member criticized Alonso’s reasoning…

"What a stupid thing to say. With this he has 1000 employees against him, all who collectively earn less money than him."

Meanwhile, a Mercedes member hit the nail on the head when he said that no one person has contributed more than any other…

"We could say that due to the development on our engine we have contributed 8 tenths to the package. That is all nonsense. It is a team effort rather than an individual achievement."