Whitmarsh: McLaren drivers free to fight

The McLaren rookie put Alonso under pressure all weekend, and led him for much of the Melbourne race, before losing out at the final pitstops to take third in his first F1 event.

And although McLaren look like they are going to be Ferrari's main challengers for the world championship this year, the team have ruled out any suggestions of favouring Alonso at this stage of the season.

"We are here to win the world championships and we will see as the year goes on," said McLaren F1 CEO Martin Whitmarsh about letting both his drivers race each other.

"They were racing very much this weekend, as you could see, and I think our philosophy is well known. If you restrain one driver consistently then you will affect that driver's motivation, and we have just got to monitor what happens during the course of the year.

"We think it is healthy to have a level of competition across the garage. That motivates and stimulates the organisation. And all the time that that is not being destructive, we will allow that to continue."