Force India's Sergio Perez has denied ignoring team orders in the weekend's Canadian Grand Prix.
The Mexican arguably cost his own teammate Esteban Ocon a podium on Sunday by refusing to obey team orders.
However, Perez denies that he was actually asked to let Ocon go in Montreal.
"It was not a team order, but a discussion on the radio," he said. "I told the team my arguments, and they accepted them."
Amid rumours that Perez might be lured to Renault for 2017, Force India backed the driver's account.
Deputy boss Bob Fernley also said that the controversy is a sign of the Silverstone-based team's growing status.
"Suddenly we're having problems that only the top teams have," he told Auto Motor und Sport. "We are being observed more closely."
At reigning champions Mercedes, team chairman Niki Lauda thinks that Perez was clearly in the wrong.
"They gave Vettel a better result," he is quoted as saying by Finland's Ilta Sanomat newspaper. "Perez was selfish."
Mercedes may be right to criticise Perez, given that the Force India shenanigans arguably helped Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel to finish fourth.
"This season is so important to score points and Ferrari had a bit of luck that the two Force Indias were doing crazy things," team boss Toto Wolff told Italy's Sky.
However, Force India see another silver lining.
"We gave Esteban half a year to acclimatise, and before the first half of the season he is closer and closer to Sergio," said sporting boss Otmar Szafnauer.
"It shows that we have chosen the right driver."
Wolff, also the boss of the Mercedes junior programme, agrees, telling Le Journal de Montreal: "[Ocon] has a bright future ahead of him."
Force India are currently fourth in the constructors' championship ahead of next weekend's Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
