Putting out the McLaren friction ‘fire’
Italian sports newspaper Tuttosport agreed that 22-year-old rookie Hamilton's performance at Indianapolis was "masterful" but claims that McLaren "benefited him with a better strategy" than Alonso.
The Spanish publication El Pais added: "It was not just the two points — the thing that hurt the Spaniard (Alonso) the most was the psychological effect".
Mercedes' Norbert Haug, meanwhile, played down Alonso's frustrated swerve at the team's pit wall last Sunday but admitted that the "gesture" was out of character for a McLaren driver.
But quadruple world champion Alain Prost blames McLaren for any tension inside the Woking based team's garages.
"I think now having two equal cars within the same team is a mistake," the Frenchman, once embroiled in a furious spat with his McLaren teammate Ayrton Senna, said.
"In the end it will hurt them because it generates too much tension."
Team boss Ron Dennis thinks the situation can be helped by the drivers themselves, who in Monaco and again in North America exacerbated the issue by speaking openly with the press.
Dennis said: "They have to be monstrously careful about how they talk about each other to the press.
"We want to be thinking what a great achievement this is rather than waiting to put the next fire out."