At least Heikki Kovalainen looked pleased, even if his predecessor at the McLaren Mercedes team tried to rain on the young Finn's parade before the Hungarian Grand Prix. For Kovalainen has earned a new contract with McLaren to drive alongside Lewis Hamilton for next year.

But at what cost? wondered Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard was merely saying out loud and in detail what so many think when they size up the McLaren team's assault on the Formula One World Championship. Alonso believes that Kovalainen has kept his job only because he will be willing to ride shotgun for McLaren's £10million glamour boy.

It was a cruel assessment because Kovalainen appeared to find some new confidence in himself and his McLaren around the Hungaroring in practice yesterday, finishing only two tenths of a second adrift of his team-mate, who posted the fastest time. The question now is whether Kovalainen is told to help Hamilton's bid for the World Championship or is allowed to be his own man.

Alonso thinks the former and he has some experience to draw on. It was on this circuit a year ago that his simmering relationship with Hamilton exploded into a full-blown public row. Already stung by trailing to the rookie Hamilton in the championship, Alonso was punished for trying to hold up his team-mate in the pits during qualifying. What followed was one of the biggest feuds in the history of Formula One, which ended with Alonso being sacked and decamping to Renault for this season.

Alonso pointed to the German Grand Prix two weeks ago, when Kovalainen stepped aside to let his team-mate through to victory. “I can't even think of a race this season where he had a better race strategy than Lewis's,” he said. “I would never want to play such a role. I would rather finish fifth or sixth with Renault than fourth or fifth with McLaren.”

Well Alonso would say that, wouldn't he, given his track record at McLaren? He has refused to lay down in front of the Hamilton bandwagon that has rolled through the Formula One paddock in the past 12 months. Kovalainen is talented, but his personality is less spiky and more malleable, potentially crucial qualities in a team that can have only one superstar, no matter how many protestations there are that everyone at McLaren is equal.

You do the calculations: Kovalainen, £2million a year, 30 points behind Hamilton in the championship, with a student girlfriend, returning to Finland to watch wildlife in the holidays; Hamilton, £10million a year and rising fast, World Championship leader, with a pop-star girlfriend and a flat in Switzerland, parties with Hollywood celebrities and is invited to meet Nelson Mandela. Equal? Er, not quite.

The test will come if the championship goes to the wire. The best hope for Kovalainen is that Hamilton makes it a hat-trick of victories tomorrow afternoon and puts some clear air between him and the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen. Otherwise the Finn would be best advised to listen intently to his in-car radio for instructions.

Team orders might be outlawed but structuring strategies so that one driver can help the other are not. Ferrari are masters at the art, and might need to be for the sake of their defending champion. Raikkonen is seriously out of sorts; he has not won since Spain in April and, with each race that passes, seems to give credence to rumours that he has had enough and wants out. He could not even get to Budapest on time, getting stuck at Geneva airport for a couple of hours.

The trouble is that it is rather tricky to work out whether Raikkonen's hangdog expression is his usual deadpan look or a betrayal of his deepening gloom. Suffice to say that he claims he is not retiring, has not given up and believes that he will come back. One thing that he should know is that there is no point in looking to his team-mate for help. Massa is three points ahead of him in the championship and has everything to play for.

Hamilton can expect a little help from his friend tomorrow, but the world champion will have to win this one on his own if he is stoke up his title chances. Kimi needs a friend, too.