Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton on Sunday night exploded the myth of unity at McLaren with a bitter post-race attack on estranged teammate Fernando Alonso.

Hamilton accused Alonso of serious foul play during a first corner incident at Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix that demonstrated the enmity tearing the team apart. Hamilton claimed Alonso deliberately and recklessly forced him off the track in the dog-fight for position behind the dominant and ultimately victorious Ferraris, a move that helped Alonso finish third, one place ahead of Hamilton, and cut his title lead to two points.

McLaren continue to implode following the torrid events of last week when the team were fined £50 million and thrown out of the Constructors’ Championship for bringing the sport into disrepute in the Ferrari spygate affair.

After the race it emerged that Alonso deepened divisions at his besieged team by offering the mechanics working on his car a bonus of £700 a race to help beat Hamilton to the world title. Though McLaren put a stop to the scheme there is little they can do to heal the rift between the drivers.

“The last few years I have been watching F1 and Fernando has always been complaining about other people being unfair,” Hamilton said. “It was blatant. He pushed me wide quite deliberately. I out-braked him through turn one. There was enough room for us both to get round but suddenly I didn’t have any room. I tried to get around the outside but he pushed me wide. It was not a fair race manoeuvre.” Not surprisingly Alonso saw nothing wrong in the incident. “In the first corner Felipe [Massa] locked the front wheels and blocked the space. I went wide and we arrived wheel by wheel at the next turn. I was lucky to be on the inside and had position.”

Earlier, Max Mosley, president of F1’s ruling body, the FIA, claimed a world title won by Hamilton or Alonso would be tainted. “I would have taken all the points away from Hamilton and Alonso on the grounds that there is a suspicion they had an advantage that they should not have had,” Mosley said.

“A majority on the council thought they should keep their points, [but] about five, mostly lawyers, thought all the points should go. I’m disappointed because when history comes to be written they will say, ‘Hang on a minute, would Raikkonen or Massa have won had it not been for this information?’ “ The message in the president’s words was unmistakable. Forget an appeal.

Mosley added: “On the other side we have a brilliant championship between Alonso and Hamilton, and the sporting people were saying it wasn’t the drivers’ fault. You could say that, but then it never is.”