Briatore Asked Fisichella to Block McLaren

As World Champion Fernando Alonso raced away in the lead, Briatore claims Fisichella was following his orders perfectly in making sure that McLaren's challenge was hurt by the delay.

In the end, Fisichella only lost track position to Kimi Raikkonen during the second round of pitstops which took place under Safety Car conditions.

"We were racing for a World Championship, we weren't playing around," Briatore was quoted as saying in Autosprint.

"What Fisichella did was a normal thing. His race was perfect: I asked him to block the two McLarens and he did it in the best possible way, redeeming himself from the last Japanese GP in the meantime."

Briatore has also re-iterated the fact that he has taken more satisfaction from Renault's success in the Constructors' Championship because McLaren had built up the title so much.

"When I said that victory in the Constructors' Championship was something to aim for but it wasn't fundamental, it was the truth," he added. "But it was Ron Dennis, with his stories about what is the real championship, and what some papers wrote, that made me want to win that one too.

"We got tougher and we did it through an unmatched demonstration of strength."

And he is also delighted that he took the constructors' crown despite having a smaller budget than some other teams.

"It's the first time that a big car manufacturer wins both titles and we did it by spending less than at least three other teams, which is something I'm proud of," he said.

"Since I came to F1, if there was an imaginary championship for the team who did best compared to the budget at their disposal, then I'd always be the winner."