Following the conclusion of the European Grand Prix in which Fernando Alonso finished ninth, although he was later moved up to eighth place after no less than nine drivers were dished out five second time penalties, the furious Spaniard described the race as having been "manipulated" by the FIA. Alonso, who was calmed down by his engineer during the race, also said he was "bitter" about the outcome in an official Scuderia press release and Ferrari Vice-Chairman Piero Ferrari also, somewhat unusually, spoke out, adding he was "bitter and incredulous" in a second statement. Ferrari also went on to quote a number of posters from its official forum who all agreed with the team's reaction to the result. Team Principal Stefano Domenicali added that the result "leaves us with a bitter taste".

Yesterday at the usual post-race briefing in Maranello, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo and Domenicali examined what happened in Valencia, and according to a Ferrari statement this was "in the cold light of day." At the end of the meeting, Montezemolo released the following statement: “The result of yesterday’s race was misrepresentative. Ferrari, which showed itself to be competitive in the European Grand Prix, paid a price that was too high for respecting the rules. Meanwhile those who didn’t follow the rules were penalised by the race officials in a way that was less severe than the damage suffered by those who did respect them. That is a very serious and unacceptable event that creates dangerous precedents, throwing a shadow over the credibility of Formula One. We are sure that the FIA will fully analyse what happened, taking the consequent necessary decisions. Ferrari will watch this with interest.”

A second statement from Maranello yesterday, focused on the key reason for the deployment of the Safety Car in grands prix, namely safety. "Apart from all the comments relating to the management of the Safety Car period and the way in which it led to ten drivers being penalised, the most important aspect of the event is that Mark Webber emerged virtually unscathed from an accident that was as spectacular as it was horrifying," the press release said. “I already mentioned it yesterday afternoon, at the very start of the press meeting,” Stefano Domenicali said in the written statement. “We all breathed a sigh of relief when we saw Mark get out of the cockpit of his car unaided. Accidents like this serve to remind us to always be aware that safety is the number one priority in our sport and that, no matter how much work has already been done in this area, one must never get complacent about it.”