A spokeswoman for McLaren-Mercedes has played down suggestions that world champion Fernando Alonso is struggling to cope with being outshone by his rookie teammate so far in 2007.
After finishing behind Lewis Hamilton for a second consecutive race at his home grand prix last weekend, Spaniard Alonso now trails his British counterpart by two points but insisted after the Barcelona race that he is not wary of the threat posed by Hamilton.
The British broadsheet The Times, however, is reporting claims that Alonso demanded that McLaren preclude Hamilton from the Paul Ricard test lineup this week — only to be excluded himself.
“Lewis might have been due to drive, he might not have been,” McLaren spokeswoman Ellen Kolby said.
She added: “They keep changing who is driving to fit in with the engineering schedule. I think too much is being read into the situation.”
