Dennis says no problems between drivers

McLaren said in a statement the two drivers, who had a public falling out at the previous race in Hungary, had met in Istanbul on Thursday and found a "constructive way forward".

Dennis told reporters at the Istanbul Park circuit he had spoken separately to each driver.

"We run our team in a certain way and we expect from every member of the team certain behaviour," Dennis told reporters in Turkey.

"They subsequently spoke, have an understanding between themselves, and they are completely communicating. Neither has a problem with the other."

Hamilton, the 22-year-old rookie sensation of the season, leads Spaniard Alonso by seven points in the Formula One championship with six races remaining.

The Briton won in Hungary after Alonso was stripped of pole position and demoted five places on the starting grid for impeding him in qualifying after Hamilton ignored team instructions.

Stewards also punished McLaren by barring them from scoring constructors' points, costing them 15 and allowing Ferrari to cut the gap at the top to 19. The Mercedes-powered team are appealing against the decision.

"The way we always start our discussions like this is to acknowledge our shortcomings as a team, to perhaps even demonstrate the fact we do make mistakes," said Dennis of Thursday's meeting.

"In such a complex sport with so many people it's inevitable you make mistakes but we think we recover well from those and they (the drivers) accept they are human too," he said.

"The important thing is everybody recognised what their contribution was to the difficult circumstances we had after Hungary and were committed not to allow those things to repeat themselves in the future races."

Alonso, winner of the last two titles with Renault, is competing in his 100th Grand Prix on Sunday while Hamilton is chasing his fourth win in 12 races.

"Clearly they are very competitive individuals and we believe that for the balance of the season that competitiveness will stay on the circuit. That's our objective," said Dennis.

"From the team perspective we will rigidly stick to equality. Sometimes it's difficult to achieve.

"We have a very focused effort on the remaining Grands Prix, and as and if, and we hope it's if, any situations develop then we will handle those as they develop," he added. "But at the moment we are focused and pointing in one direction."