Ron Dennis left a French female journalist close to tears on Saturday after Lewis Hamilton got a grilling in the post-qualifying press conference.

Anne Giuntini, who has worked in formula one for more than 20 years for the French daily L'Equipe, had aggressively pursued the British championship leader following accusations that he held up title rival Kimi Raikkonen on a qualifying flying lap in Brazil.

"You will have problems, you will have problems," one Spanish newspaper quoted Dennis as shouting at Giuntini, who is married to Renault's Denis Chevrier, later on in the paddock.

In the news conference, she heatedly and repeatedly suggested that Hamilton did not easily let Raikkonen past on a decisive flier.

"What do you want me to do? Put the indicator on?" Hamilton bristled back, before eventually refusing to answer any more of Giuntini's questions.

"Is that what you call the best job?" she fired back after another exchange with 22-year-old rookie Hamilton. "Are you a sportsman?

"Do you think you can do everything you want and then you just apologise -- is that the way it works in formula one?" she added.