Fernando Alonso attacked the “manipulated” European Grand Prix after he slipped to ninth place following the introduction of a safety car on Sunday.
Alonso was in third place before the safety car came on after a spectacular crash involving Mark Webber on lap nine.
Lewis Hamilton was handed a drive-hrough sanction for overtaking the safety car and still managed to hold onto second place. Alonso, however, slipped down the field to finish ninth, before moving up a place to eighth after time penalties were handed to several drivers for infringements.
The Ferrari driver suggested the stewards’ use of the safety car had affected him more than the McLaren driver.
“We were running well, in third after a good start. Then the safety car came out, which wasn’t too good for us, but Hamilton overtook the safety car, something that I had never seen, overtaking the medical car with yellow flags,” Alonso said. “We were a meter off each other, and he finished second and I finished ninth.”
Alonso said he was unhappy at how his team is being treated.
“Unfortunately everything goes against us and it seems they are allowing everything,” he said.
Sebastian Vettel won the race, dominating from pole position.
“This race was to finish second,” Alonso said. “Then with the safety car I would have finished where I finished in ninth, and Hamilton in eighth. But here, when you do the normal thing, which is respecting the rules, you finish ninth, and the one who doesn’t respect them finishes second.”
