McLaren and Ferrari should be congratulated for allowing their drivers to race each other in the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis.

This was great for Formula 1 and proved both teams were willing to transcend narrow corporate interests for the good of the sport.

It is often said Formula 1 is sport for 90 minutes on a Sunday and business the rest of the time, but in the past few years even that has not been quite true.

Especially Ferrari, during the Michael Schumacher era, has been guilty of putting its own interests above those of the sport. Witness Michael’s undisputed number one status built into his contracts and instances like Austria 2002.

McLaren has also manipulated the results of races before and about three weeks ago came perilously close again when its drivers were ordered to hold station early in the race.

Fortunately both teams allowed their drivers to race at Indianapolis and we, the fans, were the winners in the end.

It was clear Fernando Alonso was trying as hard as he could to catch and pass Lewis Hamilton, to such a degree that — according to a pitlane reporter — members of DaimlerChrysler management were biting their nails. It wasn’t because the battle between the two drivers was so riveting — they were rather concerned the two would take each other out.

It’s great that team boss Ron Dennis trusts his drivers enough to know they would not do something stupid — testimony to his commitment to the bigger picture.

“They were allowed to race each other right to the end,” he said afterwards. “I don’t care which one wins, as long as they secure a McLaren 1-2.”

Ferrari also allowed Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen to take each other on — as was the case with Hamilton and Alonso, this was the first time this season the two team-mates actually challenged each other for position.

They may have been on different tyre strategies, but for most of the second half of the race they were in each other’s tyre tracks. They also may have been somewhat off the pace of the leaders, but their battle — like the one up front — made for riveting competition.

It was concrete evidence of how the team’s attitude towards the sport had changed from what it used to be.

Not only is Lewis Hamilton a breath of fresh air in Formula 1 this year, but it is also clear the spirit of true competition has returned.

It is becoming more and more probable that one team will be dominating the remainder of the season, like McLaren also did in 1988 when it won 15 of the 16 races. Even if this does happen, at least we will be enjoying the spectacle of two drivers taking each other on in a no-holds-barred fight for the title.

And that cannot be a bad thing.