Jenson Button believes the blame game being played out at rivals Red Bull Racing plays into the hands of McLaren.
Following the accident between Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel in yesterday's Turkish Grand Prix, the duo opened a rift as they pointed accusing fingers at each other.
The incident on lap 40, which resulted in Vettel spinning out of the race with a damaged right-rear wheel, allowed Lewis Hamilton to end a nine-race winless drought and spearhead a McLaren one-two.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner now faces the unenviable task of repairing the damage done by his drivers.
But after the incident at Istanbul Park, Button knows that will be far from easy given a driver's instinct and nature.
"We are all competitive and sometimes you find it difficult to back down in certain situations," said the reigning world champion.
"But when you look at the data and the footage someone's always in the wrong, so it's about owning up and moving forward.
"If they can't do that it will play into our hands because we go to Canada (on June 13) having finished first and second and those two having crashed.
"When you are not getting on I'm sure you don't share information as much. I don't know, I've never had it with a team-mate.
"But I think you can get hung up on trying to beat the guy that you bashed with, and maybe that will be an issue for them."
Button and Hamilton almost had their own crash 10 laps later as they tussled for the lead, but despite probable palpitations on the pit wall for their team bosses, they came through unscathed.
Hamilton is adamant that he and Button will never become embroiled in the skirmish that cost their rivals their own one-two.
"It won't happen with me and Jenson," he insisted. "We're both world champions, we're both professionals, and we both have a huge amount of respect for each other.
"We want to finish the race, we do both want to win, but not in an aggressive manner.
"For sure you want to be ahead, so if you finish second you're not the happiest, but he is a very supportive team-mate, he is doing a solid job and I know when I win he is happy for me and vice versa.
"We had a great battle out there, he wasn't aggressive, he wasn't silly, he didn't make any stupid mistakes, and that's why it was a good fight.
"So I have no doubts the rest of the year will be the same."
Addressing the issue himself, Button added: "I hope so as well.
"We are here to fight, to beat each other, to beat everyone, and whilst we are pretty hard when it comes to racing, I think we are fair as well.
"Plus there's the fact we don't want to crash because points are so important. Yes, we want to go for the victory but also finishing is key.
"It was a strange accident in a way. You always hope it is never going to happen to you and you do the best you can to make sure it doesn't."
The respect Button and Hamilton have for each other is obvious, and not just because they are both British and the sport's two most recent world champions.
While some will attempt to find the cracks in their relationship, Button maintains they are wasting their time.
"He's probably the quickest guy I've ever raced alongside, one of the quickest Formula One has ever seen," Button said.
"For me that's exciting racing alongside him, and in a way judging yourself alongside him because I've a lot of respect for him.
"So yeah, I would say he's a good team-mate in the way that he's quick and he never gives up.
"It's fun to race alongside someone like that, but he is also very open. We're very open and say what we think. We discuss everything.
"If we have an issue with each other we don't hide it and talk about the other one behind their back.
"It's straight out and very straightforward, the way you have to be if you want to fight for a championship."
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