Lauda: Alonso deserved to be punished

That is the view of former world champion Niki Lauda, who has rejected any suggestion that the punishment of having two seconds added to Alonso's qualifying times was too harsh.

Instead, Lauda thinks Alonso was 'stupid' to overreact after being held up by Robert Doornbos.

"To do something like that in free practice, a stupid thing like he did, that is not the way a world champion should drive," said Lauda. "It is ridiculous what he did from my point of view.

"To be annoyed in a car because some other guy is in your way is normal. This is part of the profession they are working in.

"But to push him on the straight to the right, to show his fist and then stop at the next corner is too much.

"If he goes by like we all do and shows his fist by not being happy, it is an absolutely normal thing in F1. But what he did, I do not understand. This is the start of the whole problem."

Lauda believes that Alonso's actions were evidence that the world champion may be starting to crack under the pressure of the current title battle.

The Spaniard has seen a 25-point advantage in the title battle before the United States Grand Prix whittled down to just 11 points at the moment.

"It now depends on how strong Alonso is," explained Lauda. "So far I had a lot of respect for him being with no emotion and driving absolutely perfect in every condition.

"There was Imola last year with Schumacher and there were many cases when he was doing a perfect job for his age and for his experience.

"If he now starts to crack, and yesterday he cracked because in normal circumstances you would not do that, and if the pressure builds up then he is a real normal human being and nobody special.

"But I cannot tell you now if he cracks. Let's wait tomorrow and see what he does in the race, because it will be a fight.

"For sure he will not get in the top 10 and he has to come from the back. Here you cannot overtake and it is the most ridiculous place to be at the back, less bad than Monte Carlo. I hope he does not crack because this is not what a world champion should do."

When asked whether the latest episode has left Lauda revising his opinion of how good Alonso is, he said: "At the moment he shows weakness and I am not sure why.

"If he has the advantage he should use his power, knowledge and experience to drive it home. So far he did not do a bad job, even the car at Indy.

"So far he is still defending his lead with the best drive he can, but what happened yesterday was stupid because he threw away most likely a race tomorrow, and even the championship if he is unlucky."