Alfa Romeo - 'sister' team to Ferrari - has issued a brief statement in which it is critical of the handling of yesterday's Belgian Grand Prix.

The Italian/Swiss outfit was the only team that didn't issue a press release following yesterday's shenanigans, clearly feeling, like the rest of us, that in the wake of a 'race' that officially consisted of one lap, the thoughts of its team boss and drivers were not really worth sharing.

This morning however, the team has issued a brief statement in which it is critical of how the situation was dealt with.

It reads:

"A huge thank you to all the incredible fans that spent hours in the elements for the race to start: with your patience and determination, you are the true Drivers of the Day. For months, we have been looking forward to having the stands full of fans supporting our team and our sport: unfortunately, we weren't able to put up a show for you yesterday.

The decision not to race in these conditions was the right one, in the interest of protecting the safety of the drivers, the marshals and the spectators themselves. However, the situation would have been dealt with a lot more appropriately by not having at all the "race" we witnessed yesterday: this outcome hurts us all, but in particular it hurts fans of the sport, who didn't get the show they came to see. We hope lessons were learnt yesterday, lessons that will improve the way we operate in the future and that put the supporters of our sport in the position they deserve to be.

Once again, our genuine thanks go to all the fans - you were the ones to truly shine yesterday in Spa."

Check out our Sunday gallery from Spa, here.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by kenji, 01/09/2021 2:03

"It appears that providing evidence, by one particular person, as proof of Michael Masi's claimed distortion of the truth will not be made available. It would seem that without that evidence being forthcoming an apology would be the decent thing to do. It is all too easy to sit back in anonymity and trash someones reputation. If however the particular person can provide substantiation then the whole matter can be dropped. "

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2. Posted by kenji, 31/08/2021 0:34

"@Chickenfarmer... Accusing Masi of being a 'bald faced liar' is a rather provocative statement! I have a question for you...have you sighted the contract and the terms of the contract between the FIA/F1 and the circuit owners and proprietors ? If the answer is yes then could you please kindly elucidate and explain the complexities of invoking a 'force majeure' claim? I look forward to reading the details....."

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3. Posted by Sam 66, 30/08/2021 17:47

"Spot on Alpha Romeo. How, in any definition of the word, can it be called a "race" when you can't race. Masi is incompetent and should stand down "

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4. Posted by ChickenFarmerF1, 30/08/2021 16:13

"@Mad Matt - agree 100%. They claimed there was no "commercial pressure" behind that decision. That is one of the more bald faced lies I've heard in a while.

If they'd said OK, we'll run a couple laps behind the safety car to clear a lot of water from the track, then we'll go green flag. Even if they only managed 1 lap of green flag racing I'd have been at least somewhat OK with calling it a race and awarding points. But this was every bit as farcical as Indy 2005. If the conditions were bad enough to not run any green flag laps (and I agree it was that bad) they should have just cancelled the race, or postponed it to the next day."

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5. Posted by Burton, 30/08/2021 14:42

"They should sue instead, as their opponents were effectively handed points (and monies to come up with them)."

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6. Posted by Mad Matt, 30/08/2021 13:04

"Fair point.

I love Spa and the often changeable weather conditions are part of that so I've got no problem with the race being cancelled or postponed but awarding points seems somewhat ridiculous when there wasn't even one lap of real racing."

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Alfa Romeo critical of how Spa situation was dealt with

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