Fernando Alonso has refuted speculation that Lewis Hamilton has been given special treatment by this year's race stewards.
While in the past, Hamilton has come in for some stick from the stewards, lining up the penalties, this year has seen a different story.
In Malaysia, caught weaving in front of Vitaly Petrov out on track, Hamilton was given just a warning while one race later in China, he was handed nothing more than a reprimand for his pit lane antics with Sebastian Vettel.
"No, I don't think so," Alonso said when asked if Hamilton was in 'privileged position' when judged by the stewards.
"The decisions are perhaps not very consistent, because there will be other times when the same happens and someone gets a penalty for it. So it varies a bit, but I don't think that's very important.
"He got two warnings and maybe he will be penalised in the next race if he does something wrong. It's like referees in football: their intention is not bad, but sometimes they make a decision and other times a different one."
As for Michael Schumacher, his fans and the media may be expressing concerns about his slow comeback but Alonso insists his rivals are not.
"No, there's no such feeling (of disappointment)," he told Autosport.
"It's not like we spend too much time thinking about what the others are doing, but we have a huge respect towards Schumacher and every driver on the grid knows it's been a bad start for him, with very few points in the first races, but I believe there's nobody ready to say the Championship is over for him.
"We knew what he's capable of doing so we have to respect him and we know the best is yet to come from him."
