McLaren plays down talk of FIA witch-hunt
The Mercedes-powered outfit, handed a record $100m penalty by the FIA and kicked out of the constructors' standings last year for spying, has also been on the receiving end of a bevy of recent penalties.
Most recently, Lewis Hamilton was penalised for incidents during the Canadian and French grands prix, and Heikki Kovalainen moved back five places on the Magny-Cours grid for blocking in qualifying.
The Daily Express newspaper points out that while stewards were quick to penalise Hamilton for cutting a chicane, "they did look leniently on Raikkonen's Ferrari as it sped round Magny-Cours with a piece of exhaust trailing which could have been deemed dangerous".
Staunch Max Mosley opponent Sir Jackie Stewart added on Monday: "You can ask questions about the consistency with which penalties are applied. A lot of people – and not McLaren personnel – are saying that the FIA are more interested in finding faults at McLaren than at other teams."
When asked if he thought McLaren is being singled out due to its difficult relationship with Mosley, Hamilton said on Sunday: "I'm not going to answer that."
Team boss Ron Dennis, meanwhile, invited reporters to "draw your own conclusions" about anti-McLaren conspiracy theories.
"I'm sure Ron didn't indicate that really," said his deputy, Whitmarsh.
"He had the frustrations that happen immediately after the race. We had three penalties this weekend, we have got to accept it and move on."