1980 world champion Alan Jones has refused to condemn McLaren’s driver lineup for becoming embroiled in a bitter spat as they battle for the 2007 title.

The 60-year-old Australian, who similarly clashed with his Williams teammate Carlos Reutemann nearly three decades ago, said he enjoyed the on-track incidents and verbal battles waged between the pair at the recent Hungarian grand prix.

“I loved it,” Jones told the Observer newspaper, albeit advising team boss Ron Dennis to get his drivers back under control.

Jones did not even criticise Alonso for deliberately holding up his teammate and championship leader Hamilton in the now infamous qualifying pitstop in Budapest.

“The only thing that surprised me about Alonso’s tactics was that he didn’t pretend to stall the car,” he said.

“Then they couldn’t have done a bloody thing to him.

“I’d be applying all sorts of tricks, psychological or otherwise. By doing what he did in the pit lane, Alonso might have taught Hamilton a bit of a lesson.”

Jones said he would advise Alonso to sit down with Hamilton so that at least they are clear about where they stand.

He said the Spaniard should tell his teammate, “‘Mate, you’re leading the championship.

‘If you’d like me to bugger that up for you a bit more, you keep going’.”

[GMM]

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