Nothing new under the sump, no menace to kingdom of Dennis

He has just entered his fifth decade in motorsport. So Ron Dennis, of all people, is sage enough to comprehend that, as much as you plot your strategy for ultimate championship glory, you cannot plan for your drivers' temperament, for the intensity of their rivalry, and cer-tainly not for a classic example of the master's territory being usurped by the apprentice. There was a prescience about the McLaren team principal's words back in December when, speaking of Lewis Hamilton's progress, he told my colleague David Tremayne: "There is a My Fair Lady aspect to the story."

Hamilton's impact on F1 and the petulant response of his team- mate, Fernando Alonso, the double world champion, is beyond the imagination of the most inspired deviser of a fiction plot-line. By Thursday, absurdly late in the day, there were attempts at damage limitation and a rebuilding of relationships after the fallout from last weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix.

No, Hamilton did not use the F-word in his radio communication with Dennis; no, he and Alonso are not "at war".

Whatever the merit of those protestations, it all has to be put in perspective. No one was hurt; no one died. The only wounds were sustained by the Spaniard's pride. Alonso believed he would be Hamilton's mentor, yet finds himself seven championship points in his wake. For a man at the zenith of his profession one can understand his chagrin, if not his public posturing.

The young Briton appears to relish the challenge; not just on the track but the political pressures. He has committed errors of judgement, as he confessed, yet he has handled himself as adeptly as a man twice his years. Whatever he achieves this season, the experience has given him an education no classroom could provide.

And do not spare too many thoughts for Dennis. As he once told me: "My sympathy window, where I allow myself self-pity, lasts from the moment when I open my eyes in the morning to the point at which my feet touch the floor beside the bed."

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