Alonso philosophical over 'funny' penalty

Alonso lost his pole position and was demoted to sixth place on the grid after stewards did not accept his explanation for the 10-second hold-up during the final minutes of qualifying.

The delay meant Hamilton was unable to complete his final flying lap.

McLaren said the incident had been triggered by Hamilton disobeying team orders to let Alonso through at the start of the third qualifying segment.

The incident, however, benefited Hamilton, who moved into pole position at a circuit where overtaking is very hard.

"I think it's very funny," mused the world champion on Spanish television. "The penalty is not related to any specific rules. It's just one of those strange things that happen. The race result is determined by last night's decision.

"This is like when an unfair penalty kick (in football) is called against you. You have to keep playing the game with a goal against you. The race is very long and I hope I can score the maximum amount of points."

Although Hamilton benefited from the incident, Alonso said the Briton was living a tense situation at McLaren.

"Right now Hamilton isn't talking to anyone in the team," the Spaniard added. "The situation has changed a lot from one race to another. I don't have any problems, it's the team who have the biggest one."

McLaren boss Ronn Dennis admitted the team would look carefully at the situation to avoid a repeat.

"There is no real innocent party in every aspect of the team," Dennis told ITV. "There was no other team involved in this - this was our team that put ourselves in this position - and we will consider carefully after the weekend our way forward."