Lewis Hamilton brushed aside Fernando Alonso's promise to help Ferrari's Felipe Massa win the Formula One title on Thursday, saying it was none of his business what other drivers did.
The 23-year-old McLaren driver will be crowned champion at the Chinese Grand Prix this weekend if he scores six points more than Brazilian Massa, his closest rival, in the penultimate race of the season.
Double world champion Alonso was upstaged by the Briton when they were team mates last season and since his return to Renault has done little to hide his animosity for McLaren and the man who could replace him as Formula One's youngest champion.
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"I don't really have an opinion on it," Hamilton said of Alonso's comments.
"I focus on my job and the most important thing is to be competitive this weekend and try to earn some points. I want to bring it out and be at the front and what the others do is none of my business."
Hamilton looked isolated on a news conference platform with Alonso, Ferrari's world champion Kimi Raikkonen and the third remaining title contender Robert Kubica, who criticised the Briton's driving last week.
Alonso, who has won the last two races, was in ebullient form and in no mood to backtrack on his comments about favouring Massa, despite the presence of Hamilton.
"You cannot misunderstand what I said," he said. "My best relationship, for example, is with Robert. I would like to see him win the championship but I know that it (will be) difficult to recover 12 points.
"I will do my own race, but after the race ... you prefer some drivers to win or some teams to win compared to some others.
"You can take whatever from my comments but it's very simple."
BMW-Sauber's Kubica said the main purpose of his comments about Hamilton's tactics at Monza had been to highlight dangerous overtaking moves.
"I didn't make comment on Lewis, I just said overall these kinds of moves are pretty dangerous especially in wet conditions," said the Pole.
A subdued Hamilton said he had recovered from a disappointing race in Japan last week, where a poor start from pole and a collision with Massa left him without any points.
"I feel as strong here as I always do, we've still have two races and I still have a great opportunity to make the next step," said the Briton, who qualified on pole at Shanghai last year but failed to score any points after skidding off.
"Myself and my team have recollected ourselves and are moving forward. We'll see what happens, we'll give it our best shot."
Photograph: Getty Images | Text: Reuters
