Bernie Ecclestone has dismissed claims that his TV people deliberately ignored Force India during today's sessions in a tit-for-tat move following the team's decision not to take part in Friday's second practice session.

While FOM's failure to show Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta wasn't too noticeable in this morning's free practice session, it was a bit more obvious this afternoon especially when they were the only cars on track.

In the final phase of the session, the Sky F1 broadcast crew, clearly embarrassed, referred to the lack of coverage of Paul di Resta's superb lap, a lap which put the Scot on the fifth row of the grid.

While the Sky team opted not to push their luck - the hoo-ha following Mark Kleinman's exclusive the night before the Australian Grand Prix and the subsequent threat which saw his post pulled from the Sky News website, still fresh in their minds - fans on Twitter had no such misgivings, accusing Ecclestone of pettiness.

Asked by Reuters if the order had been given not to cover the two Force India drivers, Ecclestone said: "Not at all. I asked them (the TV people) to go and have a look. They missed two other people. It was simple.

"They are interested in who is going to be on pole," he added. "Nobody cares if someone is ninth or 11th, only the people that are watching a particular team."

Which no doubt explains why, for example, when the Force Indias were first out for Q2, the camera crew cut to HRT drivers Pedro de la Rosa (22nd) and Narain Karthikeyan (24th) walking through the paddock, drinking their energy drinks and chatting.