Ferrari has added an equally stinging appraisal of Sunday’s European grand prix, after driver Fernando Alonso accused the FIA stewards of manipulating the result.

Alonso was critical of McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton receiving a drive-through penalty but still managing to finish second, after illegally overtaking the safety car.

Spaniard Alonso’s F10 had been immediately behind Hamilton at the time, but finished the race just ninth.

In a report posted on its official website, Ferrari said the outcome in Valencia is “a scandal”.

“The way the race and the incidents during it were managed raise doubts that could see formula one lose some credibility again, as it was seen around the world,” read the report.

Speaking to reporters afterwards, Hamilton initially said he couldn’t remember passing the safety car, but then said he thought he had passed it when he spotted it in the pit entry, “so I continued”.

Later, in an official statement, the Briton said: “I took my penalty – it’s quite a long time to spend at 60kmh in the pitlane – and I came out second.

“I don’t see how that’s unfair — it’s racing, and those are the rules, and we all have to accept them.”

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Pirelli has acknowledged it has a role to play in boosting formula one’s “show”.

The Italian brand is F1′s new exclusive supplier beginning next year, and some figures see it as an opportunity to create tyres that lead to entertaining races.

In Canada two weeks ago, Bridgestone’s crumbling tyres were credited for producing a spectacular race, and The Observer writer Oliver Owen said on Sunday he hoped “Pirelli were paying attention”.

“We want to create a show — as a fan I’d say it (Canada) was great fun, watching the strategy,” Paul Hembery, Pirelli’s competition director, told Reuters in the Valencia paddock on Sunday.

“Others would say that wasn’t very good for the tyre company,” he acknowledged.

“We can happily make a tyre that would last a whole race and not degrade, but we need to try and balance that with a good show.  I think we want to do the show route,” said Hembery.

Whilst being checked by doctors in Valencia’s medical centre on Sunday, Mark Webber and Heikki Kovalainen shook hands.

Webber’s Red Bull had backflipped spectacularly at full speed after hitting the back of Kovalainen’s slower Lotus, before ploughing headfirst into a tyre barrier.

Pundits immediately said Finn Kovalainen should have let Webber pass, due to the big speed difference between their cars.

“In the end the thing that surprised me was how early he braked, that’s the thing which caught me out,” Webber told the BBC.

He was slightly critical of Kovalainen’s “aggressive” driving, but said the real reason for the crash was the difference between the cars.

“It turns out it’s about 80 metres before I braked for the previous lap so I mean it’s a different category,” said Webber.

Also to the BBC, Kovalainen said he thought Webber was “surprised how early I had to brake”, but in a press release said he must have “missed his braking point and he ran into me”.

When Mark Webber in failed to overtake Heikki Kovalainen, the rear wheel of the Lotus drivers, met the Australian was just a passenger. His car lifted into the air, turned 180 degrees in the air rang with the cockpit down on the tarmac, turned 180 degrees again and then slid with even high speed into the tire barrier. The Red Bull driver was able to enter the car luckily unhurt on their own.

“Well, you always need two for a tango, right?” Webber said in an interview with the ‘BBC’. ‘In this incident we were both involved. I looked for the best wind shadow lookout to do the job and to pass him. He defended himself pretty hard, and inside, blocked suddenly become very aggressive.
“Finally, I was surprised by the fact, as he braked early,” said the experienced racer. “This is what caught me cold. It did not matter where I was, or how close I was driving in the slipstream, I still had everything under control.”

“This was a horrible incident. Obviously, I was surprised about what happened on the access to this curve. At first I thought, ‘Okay, it me pass’ can be, because the speed difference was of course enormous. Then he started, the door , zuzuschmeißen and he showed this little maneuver. I thought ‘What’s he doing there? “.”

“Yes, he was slowed by the gas, or whatever. It turned out that this was the case 80 meters earlier than I had slowed down in the previous round. This means that this was the case in a different category than in the few laps before. “

Lewis Hamilton was not only on the qualification for the European Grand Prix with his third place easier, but after the race at Valencia, he was able to finish on the second position – despite a drive-through. This had brewed the McLaren-Mercedes driver as he overhauled the Safety Car irregularly.

“I think it’s just very, very positive, leading the championship,” said the McLaren-Mercedes driver, who lies at 107 meters by six points ahead of team-mate Jenson Button. “Both Jenson and I have worked hard all year, and the results show the efforts that each invested. It’s great to achieve those results, we can earn. Hopefully we close the gap on Red Bull and then they really . challenge ”
The situation with the safety car could have cost the former Formula 1 world champion much more: “I really do not know. When we riding around the first corner, I saw the safety car line. I saw that the safety car next to me and thought that I had passed it, so I kept going and that was it. ”

Turbulent it went straight to after the start, when he was in a duel against Vettel the front wing damaged, “I had passed clear to Mark that I saw for this reason, not where he went. I came through the first corner, and Sebastian was very close . I could see the available gap and tried it. I brake it and we went with the same speed in the curve. ”
“I was inside came through half of the curve. I gave him room, but we touched and broke my front wing. During the safety car, I came into the pits and the team did great work to change the wings and tires .

“After that, the speed was much stronger. I was able to put him under pressure. It was impossible to overtake him on that line, when the cars were within one second, even with the F-bay system. “

A furious Fernando Alonso has accused FIA stewards of manipulating Sunday’s European grand prix.

The Ferrari driver was running behind Lewis Hamilton at Valencia when the safety car was pulling onto the track to attend to Mark Webber’s crash.

The McLaren passed the FIA vehicle and was penalised with a drive-through penalty but finished the race in second place.

“One who respects the rules is ninth, and the one who does not respect them is second,” Alonso is quoted by the Spanish sports website as.com.

He was also critical of the time it took the stewards, this weekend including former grand prix winner Heinz-Harald Frentzen, to reach the decision to penalise Hamilton.

“It seems it was very difficult to watch a replay; it takes many laps,” said Alonso sarcastically.

“Everything is against us.  They allow everything and it’s a shame the public has today seen a race that is not quite real.”

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Sebastian Vettel declared on the radio he is “back on track” after winning Sunday’s European grand prix.

“Germany one, England nil,” grinned third-placed Jenson Button, before leaving the FIA press conference to watch Germany score the first goal for real as the countries battle for World Cup survival in South Africa.

With his win, pole sitter Vettel snatches third place in the world championship – behind both McLarens – from his Red Bull teammate Mark Webber, who escaped unhurt from a frightening backflip crash.

Caused by the Australian striking the rear of Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus, the crash mirrored one during the earlier GP2 race, in which Josef Kral was hospitalised.

Some figures, including David Coulthard, slammed Kovalainen’s decision to race Webber’s much faster car, but Lotus technical boss Mike Gascoyne said on Twitter that the Finn was “pissed off with Webber”.

“For all those saying we should not have defended from Webber, when it is for position on track we race,” Gascoyne insisted.  “Always.”

The race was also controversial for other reasons.  Hamilton finished second after a drive-through penalty for overtaking the safety car, while Fernando Alonso did not make the illegal pass and finished just ninth.

“It is really unfair, it is like no penalty,” Alonso’s race engineer Andrea Stella told the angry Spaniard by radio during the race.

And nine drivers – Button, both Williams, both Renaults, both Force Indias, Sebastien Buemi and Pedro de la Rosa – are under investigation by the stewards for driving too fast on their pitstop in-lap while the safety car was out.

If penalised, Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi – finishing behind four of the investigated drivers – could be the big winner, after finishing seventh with an unique race strategy that saw him make a very late single pitstop.

By performing impressive late-race passes on Fernando Alonso and Buemi, meanwhile, the Japanese also rekindled memories of his stirring late debut for Toyota last year.

Provisional Race Result -  27 June 2010

Drivers next year will be allowed to press a button on the steering wheel that spoils downforce in the rear wing and thus boosts the possibility for overtaking.

But driver veteran Jarno Trulli this weekend expressed fears that tinkering with the rear wings is a dangerous move.

Mercedes team boss Brawn, however, insists that the adjustable wing design includes a failsafe.

“The teams have worked on this a lot,” he said in Valencia.

“Should the system fail and is no longer adjustable, the wing will be in its normal position, so there will be no downforce lost,” added Brawn.

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Fernando Alonso has admitted he will try to avoid sharing a formula one team with Lewis Hamilton in the future.

The pair famously clashed when, as the reigning double world champion, Spaniard Alonso moved to McLaren in 2007 and was paired with then rookie Hamilton.

But Alonso, 28, has always said it was the team’s management that he really clashed with, and the pair are now occasionally seen chatting in the paddock.

“I would have no problems being Fernando’s teammate again,” said Briton Hamilton.

“I don’t have any issues with him.  I think he is a great champion and a great driver.”

But according to Britain’s News of the World, Ferrari driver Alonso has a different view.

When asked if he would like to be Hamilton’s teammate again, he answered: “No.  Not if it was my choice after what happened with us.”

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The Valencia street circuit is now a “home” for formula one, according to F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone.

Ahead of its debut race in 2008, it is believed a seven-year contract was signed.

But the venue has met with criticism, including a 5.4 kilometre layout that has hosted processional races, and a lack of atmosphere due to the absence of many boats in the marina.

There were, however, a healthy 50,000 spectators for Saturday’s qualifying session, and Ecclestone is quoted by the local news agency EFE: “I’m very proud and pleased with Valencia.”

The Briton said he once thought setting up a circuit in the America’s Cup port area was “almost impossible” and a “20 year project completed in two”.

“It’s a miracle,” Ecclestone laughed.

“This is now a home for us.  Today a journalist told me ‘this is another Monaco’,” the 79-year-old added.

However, Telegraph writer Simon Briggs on Saturday described Valencia as “a poor man’s Monaco”.

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Only one Williams is running the F-duct in Sunday’s European grand prix.

Both Nico Hulkenberg and Rubens Barrichello tried the British team’s improved system in Valencia practice, but Hulkenberg apparently had trouble finding the hole in the cockpit with his knee.

So the rookie German elected to remove the system from his FW32 in qualifying, but still managed to out-qualify Barrichello, whose car is fitted with the F-duct.

“No one expected me to be ahead of Rubens today because he’s been quicker than me all weekend,” said Hulkenberg, eighth ahead of Barrichello’s ninth.

Red Bull’s Christian Horner this weekend accused a “naughty” Ferrari of breaching the “spirit” of the agreement by testing its new exhaust layout at Fiorano last week.

Ferrari argues that the run was allowed because “filming and promotional” activities were taking place, and FOTA chairman Martin Whitmarsh on Saturday said the teams association will react.

“I didn’t think they (the rules) needed clarification, but for some they clearly do,” he said.

“It isn’t ambiguous in my English interpretation of it, but others obviously thought it was.

“That’s why we have to remove that ambiguity, and I think we are going to do the correct and honourable thing.”

Whitmarsh made clear that, like Ferrari, teams including Mercedes and Renault have also made “some arguable decisions” with regards to the rules about in-season testing.

“Once one does it then everybody feels ‘well, if that’s how you are going to interpret something, then I’ll push it to the limit’,” said the Briton.

He made clear that when McLaren tries its Red Bull-like exhaust layout next week, it will do so with one of its allocation of straightline test days.

Whitmarsh also thinks it is time F1 relaxed its approach to in-season testing.

“We had to take significant measures given the crisis involving the economy and formula one,” he said.

“I think now, as we can see signs of the economy improving, we can go back to testing.”

Michael Schumacher has rejected rumours he might make room at Mercedes next year for Robert Kubica.

It is has been suggested that team figures want Pole Kubica, 25, to race alongside Nico Rosberg in 2011, despite Schumacher having a three year contract.

But although Schumacher slumped to just 15th on the Valencia grid, he said on Saturday he can “handle the pain” of his current situation.

“I’m not here with a short-term view, that I just look from race to race and I have to have a single result.

“From my point of view we have a three year programme.”

Asked if the criticism hurt, or made him more determined to return to the top, the 41-year-old told reporters: “Neither nor.

“I know what’s going on and I care about what is real and what I know and have to worry about.

“Once we can solve our problems then there is reason to believe we can do much better, and even win races this year,” he added.

Team boss Ross Brawn said at the Spanish street circuit that Mercedes has “not spoken” to Kubica.

“I spoke to him at Brawn GP a year ago when we were looking at the future, but we haven’t spoken to him since then.

“There’s no discussions going on, we’re very happy with Michael, we’ve got to sort the car out, that’s the main issue,” he insisted.

Interestingly, Brawn did admit that he has “socialised occasionally” with Kubica on the seaside coast of Tuscany, where they each have a house.

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The time is nearing for Mercedes to write off the 2010 season.

That is the opinion of triple world champion and famous German-language pundit Niki Lauda, after watching both W01s fail to qualify in the top ten at Valencia.

The Brackley based team had taken a substantial upgrade package to the Spanish port city, but now look unlikely to score good points while Nico Rosberg trails the championship lead by 35 points.

“At some point, maybe in two or three races, one should say ‘stop, let’s get on and build a car for next year,” Lauda said on German television Sky on Saturday.

Team boss Ross Brawn said after qualifying that Mercedes needs to “reflect, assess and see what our next steps should be”.

But Mercedes’ competition chief Norbert Haug said that does not mean the German team is giving up.

“We will certainly not give up on improving our package as we have done continuously since the season began but our competitors have been doing the same,” he said.

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Adam Parr is not ruling out a change of engine supplier for Williams.

Amid rumours both Williams and Lotus could each be eyeing a supply of Renault V8s in 2011, Cosworth’s Mark Gallagher has insisted both teams are under contract for three years.

Parr, Williams’ chief executive, likened a F1 team’s relationship with its key suppliers to a marriage.

“You do have rows with your wife, but you know you have got the common interest and I still think that is the case,” Parr, referring to Williams’ recent qualms about the driveability and degradation of the Cosworth engine this year, is quoted by GP Week.

“But we have no plans to change engine partner, and we have no desire to change engine partner,” he continued.

“I just don’t want to rule out the possibility of something happening because that would be a stupid thing to do,” he added.

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