The McLaren team came to Hungary hoping for a trouble-free weekend, but not even Lewis Hamilton's victory and Fernando Alonso's lucky fourth place could rectify the damage to the team's psyche left by their continuing skirmishes with the formula one authorities.

The latest problem came only days after the team thought they were finally in the clear over the issue of the stolen Ferrari technical documents which were found at the home of their chef designer, Mike Coughlan. The FIA world motor sport council declined to impose any penalty because there was no proof that any of the data had been used in the development of McLaren's own cars.

Yet only five days after the team breathed a sigh of relief, the FIA revealed that there was a sting in the tail of that judgment. The CSAI - Italy's motorsport governing body - was asked by Ferrari to request that the whole issue be re-examined by the FIA's court of appeal as soon as possible. That meeting will now be held this month, probably after the Turkish grand prix on August 26.

McLaren's tension has been palpable and seems to have spread to team members. In the pit lane at Hungaroring a convoluted sequence of events unfolded which, in some people's minds, would cast doubt on the McLaren chairman Ron Dennis's most prized asset, his integrity.

It all started when Alonso appeared to deliberately hold up his team-mate, Hamilton, thereby preventing the British driver from exiting the pits in time to start his final qualifying lap. According to the team the delay in returning Alonso to the circuit was caused by the need to wait for a space in the traffic which would allow him an unimpeded run. In fact there were only four cars in total on the circuit, so this was not a credible consideration.

Earlier Hamilton had ignored instructions from the pit wall to allow Alonso to overtake him for tactical reasons, much to the chairman's frustration. "Lewis should have slowed and let Fernando past but he didn't. He just charged off," said Dennis.

Hamilton's frustration was evident when he told Dennis on the team radio, "Don't ever fucking do that to me again." Dennis replied, "Don't ever fucking speak to me like that again", before the championship leader ended the conversation by telling his boss to "go fucking swivel".

It was an uncomfortable episode as for a short while the two McLarens were parked nose-to-tail. Alonso appeared to be looking in his rear-view mirror, perhaps relishing the payback he was delivering to his junior team-mate. There were even suggestions that Alonso's physio, standing on the pit wall, was signalling to his driver when there would be just time for him to complete an out-lap but not enough time for Hamilton to do so.

This turned out to be another slice of frenzied speculation, but there was certainly no mistaking Dennis's anger as he threw down his head-set in sheer exasperation when he realised that Hamilton had lost the chance of pole position.

After detailed analysis of the video evidence and recordings of the McLaren pit-to-car radio traffic, the stewards decided that Alonso had "unnecessarily impeded another driver, Hamilton, and as a result he will be penalised by the loss of five grid positions". The stewards added in their judgment: "The explanation given by the team as to why they kept Alonso stationary for 20 seconds after completion of his tyre change and therefore delayed Hamilton's own pit stop is not accepted. The actions of the team in the final minutes of qualifying are considered prejudicial to the interests of the competition."

Dennis's team were being accused of telling lies. McLaren then sought to pour more oil on troubled waters with a communique emphasising just how difficult it is managing two such outstanding drivers in the same team, particularly in a winning car. "Every effort was made yesterday to maintain our policy of equality," it said. "We do not believe that the findings of the stewards and the severe penalty imposed on the team are appropriate and that our strenuous efforts to maintain the spirit of fair play and equality within the team have been understood."

Yet there was no doubt that the implied criticism of the detailed chronology deeply upset Dennis. He tried to put a brave face on it all but he could not avoid giving the impression that events were spiralling out of his control. At the end of the race he confessed he was too emotionally drained to enjoy Hamilton's dominant win in the way he would have liked.

"I don't think either driver is blameless," he added. "We should have been a little bit more aggressive in handling this situation, but it's not really my style. In the end we are still leading both championships. We have taken a difficult emotional blow but we just have to dig deep and move forward."