Fernando Alonso has said that his comments that the European GP result had been "manipulated" by the stewards had been a heat-of-the-moment comment, and apologised for the comments he made after the Valencia race.
Alonso was unhappy after seeing Lewis Hamilton effectively escape unpunished for overtaking the safety car, while he and Ferrari team mate Felipe Massa dropped out of contention after respecting the rules.
But after cooling off, the Spaniard apologised for his comments on Tuesday in a blog entry on Ferrari's official website.
"Obviously, in the clear light of day, I am much calmer than I was in the moments immediately following the race," Alonso whispered.
"At the time, I reacted emotionally and in that situation, it is all too easy to adopt a tone and say things that can be interpreted wrongly, giving rise to suspicions, something which I had no intention of doing."
He added: “Sure, I understand that the stewards have a difficult job to do and they have to take decisions that are not easy. What I meant was that those drivers who, like us, respected the regulations, unfortunately, in this situation, suffered much more than those who broke them, even though they were given a penalty.
“And I am not referring to any of the drivers in particular: it’s a general matter and I think we should talk about it together in a calm way, to ensure that things like this do not happen again."
The Ferrari team have said they took the matter up with the FIA, but although the governing body are looking to clarify the issues raised about safety car periods on Sunday, they have also been rumoured to be considering a punishment against Alonso and Ferrari for their comments.
The Italian team has found little support for their comments amongst the other F1 teams.
Alonso said that he is happy the FIA will look at the safety car rules, saying that he was "confident" there would be no further issues.
“I was pleased to hear that the FIA has reacted promptly, calling an extraordinary meeting of the Sporting Working Group and I am confident, certain even, that all the points up for discussion will be cleared up in a comprehensive fashion,” he grinned.
He added that he was still confident about the championship situation, despite falling to 29 points behind Hamilton after his eighth place finish in Valencia.
“Even if the Valencia result was not what we wanted, it has not done irreparable damage,” he shrugged, “It’s true that the gap to the leader has now jumped to 29 points, but we have not even reached the halfway point of the season. We trail by just over one win, so the situation is still very open.
“The updates we brought to Spain saw us make a step forward and get closer to the front runners. I am satisfied with that, but also aware that we must continue to push on with the development of the F10, because we need to have a car capable of fighting for pole and to give us the edge over our rivals as soon as possible."
He concluded that: “If we are now 29 points off the championship leader, it means that in the next ten races, we have to score at least 30 more than whoever is in the lead at any one time.”
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