While running into a strong 3rd after the first few laps, Alonso dropped to 10th overall in a matter of minutes, when the safety car was deployed as a consequence of Mark Webber’s accident. However, Lewis Hamilton, running in 2nd at the time, took it upon himself to overtake the safety car, for which he was later penalized with a drive-through penalty.
Nevertheless, by the time Ham was handed the penalty, he had already secured enough time in front of 3rd placed Kamui Kobayashi to retain his 2nd place despite driving through the pit lane. At the end of the race, Alonso hit out at how the stewards resolved things in Spain.
“It's a shame, not for us because this is racing, but for all the fans who came here to watch a manipulated race. 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. We were a meter off each other, and he finished second and I finished ninth,” said an angry Alonso after the race, according to Autosport.
“This race was to finish second. 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. (…) Unfortunately everything goes against us and it seems they are allowing everything,” added the Spaniard.
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