Ron Dennis wants to control everything, and Fernando did not like that Juan Pablo Montoya

Former McLaren star Juan Pablo Montoya has said he feels sympathy for world champion Fernando Alonso's situation at the team this season.

Montoya believes Dennis is favouring Lewis Hamilton over Alonso and said he was shocked when he and his wife heard they were going to be team-mates.

"We immediately felt sorry for Fernando because Lewis is Ron's baby," he said.

"Ron paid for his whole career, so Ron wants him to win and not Fernando. Lewis is like his own child."

Montoya added: "Fernando is nothing to him. I think Fernando is angry. He thought he was going to come in and be number one, and he's not."

Montoya spent six seasons in Formula One, including a season and a half at McLaren in 2005/06, before splitting acrimoniously from the team and moving to the US Nascar series.

Alonso and Hamilton are in their first season together at McLaren.

Montoya said: "Fernando is a nice guy, but he was the number one at Renault and he was used to winning and getting everything.

"Ron, outside the work environment, is a great guy but he's two different guys.

606: DEBATE Give your reaction to Montoya's views on Alonso and Dennis

"The guy who I signed with and played golf with, he just didn't exist in the office. He was just a different person, you wouldn't even recognise him.

"He wants to control everything, and Fernando is not used to someone controlling everything and did not like that."

Montoya said he was not surprised how the spy scandal that has rocked the sport developed over the season.

McLaren were fined �49.2 million and expelled from the constructors championship after being found in possession of a 780-page dossier packed with Ferrari's technical secrets.

Montoya said: "It's just how Formula One is. Teams are allowed to bend the rules too much.

"I always felt like people bent the rules and that some teams were allowed to bend the rules more than others. But this? This is crossing the line."

It was later revealed through e-mail and text message exchanges that Alonso and test driver Pedro de la Rosa had intimate knowledge of the Ferrari set-ups.