With six and possibly just five races to go in 2010, the psychological games are now well and truly in play by the main players.

After the Belgian GP on Sunday, McLaren's Martin Whitmarsh denounced Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel as a "crash kid" for his "junior formula" crash into Jenson Button.

But fingers were also pointing in the other direction.

"Button braked early, Seb wanted to avoid him and lost it on a bump," said Whitmarsh's Red Bull counterpart Christian Horner.

Helmut Marko described Button as driving "so slow" at the time of the incident, but the reigning world champion hit back by insisting he "certainly didn't brake any earlier than usual".

Marko added: "He (Vettel) could not just sit behind Jenson. He was so slow that Sebastian was losing one second per lap to Hamilton."

Horner also said Hamilton was the "luckiest man in Belgium" for managing to drive out of a gravel trap prior to winning the race.

"Sometimes you ride your luck and he's had a bit of that this year," said the Briton.

It is also increasingly rumoured that the world championship could be curtailed to just 18 races, with South Korea only now laying the asphalt for the track surface.

Now 41 points behind the championship lead, a five-race run to the season finale would be a blow for Fernando Alonso.

"Our intention is to race in Korea," he told Spanish reporters on Sunday. "I have no information to the contrary so we should be there."