Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso has blithely insisted that he is not being distracted from his on-track duties by the ongoing media furore surrounding his controversial win in the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim last weekend.
Alonso arrives at this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix trailing Lewis Hamilton by 34 points in the championship, but with the Ferrari car performing like a race winning package for the first time since the start of the season.
But the issues surrounding his win last week, when the team appeared to order Felipe Massa to let the Spaniard through to take victory, have followed the team to Budapest.
The team has been fined and look set to face a World Motor Sport Council hearing into the German race, where further punishments could be imposed.
But despite all the off-track pressure, Alonso insisted ahead of tomorrow's practice sessions that he is not feeling under any extra pressure.
"Of course it doesn't affect me. Not at all," Alonso breezily told the Spanish media on Thursday, "If we lost one per cent of our concentration in everything they say we'd be lost.
"Not only because of Germany, but because there's always a small anecdote in every race. One time is the crash between the Red Bulls in Turkey, another time is the overtaking in the pitlane between Massa and me. There's always something to talk about next week so we can't pay too much attention."
He added that the team were more concerned about keeping up the momentum of their 1-2 finish in Germany.
"There are many opinions and many things have been said in the last couple of days," Alonso, who has largely avoided discussing the specifics of the race last week, mused.
"The only important thing for us is that the car is competitive and we can do well here in Hungary as well. But the opinion of everybody, some of the drivers or team principals, it is their opinion and we respect everything, but we concentrate on our job."
He added: "There is nothing to say right now. That is your opinion - what you think about the fans. For sure some of them are unhappy with some races and not only in Germany, there were some more races this year, and some of them they don't care.
"I arrive today in Hungary, the airport was full, the hotel was full of people cheering for us, and that is the fans I saw today so far. Maybe I see some others that you mention now, but at the moment I only saw those ones."
Earlier in the day, Massa had insisted that he is not a number two driver within the Ferrari team, and will not play a subservient role to Alonso for the rest of 2010, and Alonso backed up that point.
"I think there is not a number one or number two driver," he muttered, "I think it is more about respect of each other, respect of racing for the Scuderia – which means a lot.
"I think we are happy with the performance of the car in the last couple of races and in Germany finally there was the point we arrived with both cars at the chequered flag without problems and we scored points.
"But also in Silverstone and Valencia the car was good, so our aim here is to continue in this line. The talks of the not talks, it is the past and we have nothing to say any more. We all said everything in Germany."
Despite the media backlash being largely directed at him, Alonso also shrugged off suggestions that his reputation in the sport had been damaged by the team orders row.
"That is your opinion, and you have one opinion, that is very respectful, but I don't think anything changed to me or anything happened back to me," he smiled.
"I am still the same and I will fight always for the best things possible, for my team, for the sport and hopefully I can do well always in my career."
He added that the WMSC hearing, which is yet to be confirmed, was also not a distraction, saying: "I think we will see.
"At the moment the drivers, now we need to concentrate on driving, we have a very interesting GP here in front of us now, here in Hungary, we have some good possibilities of doing some good performance so anything that happens in the future of the WMSC is not in our hands.
"From a drivers' point of view we just need to concentrate and drive well and be okay."
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