Alonso says no 'civil war' at McLaren

World champion Fernando Alonso has played down reports of a 'civil war' at the McLaren team following his comments earlier this week

Alonso suggested on Spanish radio on Monday that teammate Lewis Hamilton was getting more support from McLaren thanks to being a British driver in a British team.

On Thursday, however, Alonso said his comments were never aimed at attacking McLaren or Hamilton.

Alonso, however, stood by his comments that he was not totally comfortable at the team.

"There is no civil war," Alonso told Spanish reporters at Indianapolis. "I never said anything against the team. In fact I said I had a competitive car, good enough to win my third consecutive title. What I said was that I was not totally comfortable.

"To be totally comfortable with the team there are things missing that I've talked to them about, and I think they are necessary to be comfortable, and things need to be done the way I think they need to be done. It's things such as strategy, testing, sharing telemetry.

"But there are things that I thought would be different and it's not that way. That's the way I think and there's nothing more to it; it starts and ends there.

"The team have their reasons, their philosophy to prepare qualifying and the race. I can agree with it or no. I prefer to keep my opinions to myself."

Alonso also responded to Hamilton, who said today that the double world champion perhaps didn't expect him to be so strong in his rookie season.

"I've had strong teammates like (Jarno) Trulli in 2004, and I was behind him in the middle of the championship and I finished ahead of him in the end," said Alonso.

"And I've won a title ahead of (Kimi) Raikkonen and his McLaren, and another one ahead of Michael Schumacher. So I'm not easily surprised."