Norbert Haug has denied rumours that McLaren-Mercedes chiefs have now decided which of the team’s drivers will be backed to win the 2007 title.
In the days preceding the French grand prix at Magny Cours, it is whispered that team boss Ron Dennis informed Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton after the US grand prix two weeks ago that only one of them will from now on be allowed to charge for the drivers’ prize.
But Haug, competition chief for McLaren’s engine partner Mercedes-Benz, said in an interview with Deutsche-Presse-Agentur: “If that was right, I would know about it.”
Hamilton, 22, leads the drivers’ standings over his back to back world champion teammate Alonso by ten points.
Haug continued: “The truth is that there is obviously a huge demand for stories about Lewis by the English media and therefore things emerge that say more about the creativity of their author than they do about the facts.
“We are not so arrogant to think that we can pre-determine who is a world champion. Ron, myself, and every other team member would welcome any world champion as long as his car has a (Mercedes-Benz) star on his nose.”
Playing down all the speculation about a ‘civil war’ in the driver line-up, then, Haug concludes: “Nothing is ever eaten has hot as it is cooked.”
For example, the German tabloid Bild on Thursday published an entire article explaining how Alonso reacted angrily to claims that Dennis’ wife Lisa cheered loudly when Hamilton eclipsed the Spaniard’s lap time for pole in Montreal.
