Raikkonen and Alonso on their own

Championship challengers Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen were told they must fight their own title battle and not rely on help from their team mates in the remaining five races of the championship.

Spaniard Alonso currently has a 24-point lead over Finn Raikkonen but both their respective team-mates, Giancarlo Fisichella and Juan Pablo Montoya, have said they will not interfere in the drivers' title race. Raikkonen is the driver who needs all the help he can get but Colombian Montoya, who is chasing down third place in the championship, is only prepared to help out to secure their McLaren team the constructors' title.

Juan Pablo Montoya "From my point of view, I have to do the best I can for the team. If Kimi wins (the title) then it'll be very good for him but my goal is to win the constructors' championship for the team. Using the example of Hungary, I let Kimi by on the first lap because he was on a weaker strategy and he needed to be further up the field to take advantage of that. In a way I handed it to him but it would have looked silly if I had been out of the race later on and Michael had won it, so if an opportunity comes up like that to help then yeah, but that's as far as it goes."

Montoya's assistance in Hungary enabled Raikkonen to fight his way through from fourth place on the grid to claim a vital victory in a race that Alonso finished down in 11th place. Alonso, too, can no longer count on assistance from Italian Fisichella, unless there is a significant strategy difference between the two cars in their championship-leading Renault team.

Giancarlo Fisichella "In our team the most important thing is to score lots of points for the constructors championship. Fernando has a good gap in the drivers championship so he doesn't need help any more."

Alonso simply has to finish third or higher in the remaining five races to secure the championship. But the constructors' title is much closer, with just nine points separating leaders Renault from McLaren and the chasing team is the team in form with three wins from the last four races.

Montoya, who missed two races through injury, is concentrating on that chase and warned Raikkonen:
"I don't think (his position) changes anything at all. Kimi's got his group (of engineers) he's working with and I've got my group. At the moment he looks a bit stronger than me. I struggled a bit when I was out for a few races but I'm not too concerned. I've done a lot of work on the car and it has improved a lot."