While McLaren was deciding that it would appeal its punishment in Hungary, when the British team was excluded the Constructors' Championship points, and refused permission to attend the podium ceremony and accept the winning constructor trophy, following the infamous qualifying incident, Lewis Hamilton was telling reporters that in a competitive team such incidents are bound to happen.

"When you have two very competitive people in a team, probably the two most competitive people around, and who both want to win, it puts the team under pressure," said the Englishman, according to The Times.

"It's just extremely hard for everyone to play fair and make it easy," admitted. "That's why sometimes it appears one driver is favoured over the other. That's why sometimes I feel he is (Fernando Alonso) favoured and vice versa."

Other than the qualifying contretemps, and its ongoing battle for the World Championship(s), McLaren's attention is also focussed on the forthcoming appeal regarding the espionage saga that has dominated the sport for the last month or two. This adds to the pressure admits Hamilton.

"Because of the problems we are having with the FIA and Ferrari, it's just more pressure on the team," he said. "The comforting thing is we have all this stuff going on, even at the weekend, and yet we weren't distracted from our job. I learned a lot from the weekend, about my team, how strong they are to deal with all the issues that are going on right now.

"It's daunting for all of us, but I don't believe any other team could cope with it better. We thought after the first result everything would be clear and we could move on," he added, referring to the World Motor Sport Council's original decision, "but it's gone way back into it. It's a tough time for the whole team, but it's not distracting us, which is the main thing."

With six races remaining, and his teammate just seven points adrift, Hamilton is aware that it will be a long hard battle, but he is 'up for it'.

"There's still a long way to go. We can't afford another weekend like the Nurburgring, not to score points like that again when all the bad things came together in one weekend. So I will keep on pushing until the last race."