D'Antin: we didn't harm Stoner's title bid

Barros' satallite Ducati passed Stoner's works example for the final podium spot with three laps to go. Had Barros remained behind Stoner, the Australian would have scored an additional three points and would be 12 points clear of title rival Valentino Rossi rather than nine.

But D'Antin said his team had simply done a better job on the day, and were under no obligation to finish behind the factory bikes.

"For us it's clear. If Mugello was the last race and Ducati had lost the championship because we did what we did, then someone can say something, but the situation was completely different," he said.

"We made a better set-up, particularly with the front forks. That's it. Sometimes you make it better - and that's not easy because they are the factory."

Ducati team manager Livio Suppo says he cannot stop a similar situation from happening again on occasions when "the other bikes are a second a lap faster," but intimated that things may be different if the bikes were more finely matched.

Stoner said that he suspected before the Italian Grand Prix that he was unlikely to challenge for victory, despite starting on pole.

"I really didn't feel that we had the package that day anyway," he said.

"If it was wet it would have been a different story, but for once in the dry I didn't have the package on that day, so we'll have to change that around for the next one.

"We knew going into that race it was going to be tough. We knew that if we were going to win it, it was going to be on God's graces, not on ours. After racing for so many years you know when you are going to be competitive or not."