McLaren and Arrows in heated dispute

Bernoldi drives ahead of Coulthard in Monaco

By BBC Sport Online's Andrew Benson in Monaco

The McLaren and Arrows teams were embroiled in a bitter row after the Monaco Grand Prix.

McLaren accused Arrows driver Enrique Bernoldi of "unsportsmanlike" behaviour after he held up David Coulthard for 44 laps.

Arrows said that McLaren boss Ron Dennis had aggressively threatened Bernoldi, who is in his first season of Formula One.

Bernoldi said: "Ron and (Mercedes sports boss) Norbert Haug came up to me after the race in the pit lane. They were both very aggressive.

He was racing for position. David stalled on the grid and it was up to him to fight past the people in front of him

  Tom Walkinshaw, Arrows boss

"They told me if I drove like that again I would not be in F1 for very long."

Arrows boss Tom Walkinshaw described Dennis' actions as "disgraceful".

But Dennis dismissed Walkinshaw's claims that he had threatened to end Bernoldi's career.

"Rubbish," Dennis said. "We have no influence over his career.

"It's true I spoke to Bernoldi afterwards.

"I felt that a driver contesting 15th position chopping across the front of a driver contesting the world championship is acceptable only for a period of time.

"I told him I felt his behaviour was unsportsmanlike and not the attitude a young intelligent driver should be putting into his career.

"His response was he was instructed to do so by the team."

Bernoldi wants to improve himself as a driver

Dennis accused Walkinshaw of being "desperate" for television coverage.

Walkinshaw rejected the claim that he told Bernoldi not to let Coulthard by only for that reason as "a load of rubbish".

He added: "He was racing for position. David stalled on the grid and it was up to him to fight past the people in front of him."

Coulthard said: "He's racing and I respect that. But what I feel in this situation is that he clearly had a car problem.

"He let his team-mate through and the Minardi and the other cars disappeared into the distance.

"I don't think that what he did makes him appear a better racing driver or more desirable to other teams. It just makes him look like a short-sighted person. What goes around comes around.

I felt sorry for David. He's a nice guy. But the team told me to push

  Enrique Bernoldi

"I thought he closed the door very aggressively and in a dangerous way every time I tried to pass him and it's something I'll be talking about at the GPDA (the drivers' safety union).

"We agreed not to move once a driver has made his move. You make your decision - and up the hill a couple of times I was coming to get my wheels alongside him and he moved over.

"That is outside what we agreed. I know you don't want to make the racing so clinical.

"But it is not entertaining for anyone to see an Arrows with a problem holding up a quick McLaren for the glory of 17th place when there's no way he was going to stay in front of me at the pit stops.

"He should have carried on by himself and tried to develop his driving skills."

Bernoldi said: "I felt sorry for David. He's a nice guy. But the team told me to push. I don't think I was unfair to him.

"I'm on the track to race and improve myself so one day I will be in his position. There was a lot of pressure from him, but I was driving a normal race."