McLaren's Monaco triumph was based on talent as well as teamwork

But when I was mingling with the fans in the grandstands after Sunday's remarkable Grand Prix I did not hear one suggest that Team McLaren's tactics during the race were anything other than correct and true to the traditions of the sport.

There was nothing underhand about McLaren's strategy

The most important battle at Monaco is often on the Saturday when qualifying takes place rather than on race day. There is no more difficult circuit for overtaking that Monaco which means that, all things being equal, the top cars will finish in the order in which they lined up on the grid. Things are not always equal, of course, and there is always an opportunity for a driver to make a brilliant start and overtake one or two drivers who out-qualified him. So at the start we were all watching to see whether Lewis Hamilton could steal a march on teammate Fernando Alonso or whether Filipe Massa could speed past them both. In fact what happened was that Hamilton left it to Alonso to charge into the lead whilst he himself cut off Massa's chances. All perfectly fair - and clearly pre-planned and excellent teamwork. But that move at the start showed that the writing was on the wall - McLaren were going to use their two drivers as a team and ensure that they achieved maximum points from this Grand Prix. The plan was brilliantly executed and this is exactly what happened.

Formula one is a team sport

Whilst much of the media coverage in F1 has always focused on the personalities and talents of the drivers in fact no driver will win races, let alone become World Champion, without consummate teamwork both behind the scenes and on the track. Over the years the FIA has tried to ensure that team tactics are fair and that actions are not taken which could bring the sport into disrepute. Much of the recent sensitivity comes from the shocking events at the Austrian Grand Prix in 2002. At that race Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello had out qualified Michael Schumacher and out-driven him in the race. But at the end Ferrari ordered Rubens to let Schumacher through to gain maximum points for their World Champion. It was a sordid affair (as I wrote at the time this was both cynical and offensive.)

So how does what McLaren did in Monaco differ from Ferrari in 2002 - in almost every way in my view.

Monaco is quite unlike any other circuit

Last Sunday was your corespondent's first visit to a Monaco Grand Prix and in almost every way it is quite unique in the F1 calendar. I watched the race from opposite the harbour from where I could see both the "Tabac" left-hander and the small chicane at the end of the short harbour straight. The road width at Tabac is barely the width of a single-track country road. Two cars might just fit into it side by side, but the way around the corner is very tight indeed. The track as a whole has many similar narrow parts and even the widest bits of the road offer few overtaking opportunities. So for McLaren to have encouraged Lewis Hamilton to challenge Fernando Alonso aggressively and try to pass him would have been consummate folly. Alonso is a brilliant defensive driver and, good though Hamilton is, it is extremely unlikely that he would have been able to get past. In trying to do so he could have risked taking either Alonso or himself or both of them out of the race. Is this what the complainants are suggesting McLaren should have done? What nonsense!

Team Orders must not be fraudulent

What Ferrari did at the A-1 Ring in 2002 was a fraud on the viewing public and the fans (including this one!) were incensed after the race. What McLaren did at Monaco was different and I would be most surprised if the FIA find any unacceptable or fraudulent practices had taken place. The memories that I took away from Monaco were of two terrific drivers who drove brilliantly and deservedly finished on the top steps of the podium. I also witnessed a team at the top of its form - their race set-up was clearly better than Ferrari's and skilfully though Filipe Massa drove he was never likely to threaten the two McLaren drivers. I have no doubt that on another track on another day McLaren would have allowed a straight fight between their two drivers. But at Monaco they were wholly correct to do what they did.