Dennis backs Coulthard corner

The world champion believed that Coulthard's ruthless behaviour was beyond the bounds of sportsmanship between team-mates.

And he was so disgruntled he had a meeting with Dennis and Mercedes boss Norbert Haug and Coulthard for a heart-to-heart talk as they watched a slow motion replay just after the race at Spa.

Afterwards Dennis said the Finn was clearly to blame for the brief clash at the first bend as the Finn touched the side of Coulthard's car as he squeezed through and tried to re-take the lead after fumbling the start and arriving in second place at the first corner.

'It was clearly Mika's fault,' said Dennis.

'Mika made a mistake and he was very lucky all it cost him was the first corner because he was very lucky he didn't end up with a stop-go penalty as well.'

That could have cost him second place and maybe more if he had to make a 10-second penalty stop in the pits for accidentally jumping the start.

'There was no question David got a quicker start,' said Dennis.

'Mika had a problem but it was very clear in the slow-motion replay that he came to a complete and utter standstill before he took the start lights.

'The stewards made the right decision not to hit him with a stop-go penalty.

People think they are loose words when we say we let our drivers battle for the championship but they aren't - as we all saw today.'