A1 Team Germany has hit back at stewards at the South African round of the series in Durban, aggrieved at what it saw as inconsistent treatment of offenders in a crash-strewn weekend.
Michael Ammermuller was disqualified from the sprint race - his fourth such reprimand of the year - after being found guilty of causing a collision with Jeroen Bleekemolen's Team Netherlands entry, but what angered the Germans more was what it saw as the numerous accidents and incidents - in which Ammermuller was among the victims - which went unpunished in the subsequent feature race.
"As a team that has been contesting the series ever since its inaugural season, we have been supporting the fantastic idea and concept of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport since 2005," seat holder Willi Weber commented, "Up to now, A1GP has been consistently moving forwards. In the meantime, however, I've become more sceptical.
"The city street race in Durban last Sunday saw an unusually high number of controversial incidents on the track. The stewards took the time to carefully analyse the events after the race [and] that's why we chose not to pass any final judgment in our initial comment on Sunday. But the further analyses and evaluation of the race by the stewards is scandalous."
Weber's frustration didn't stop there, however, as he went on to details several of the incidents he felt should have been dealt with more harshly, including that which took Ammermuller out of the afternoon event.
Holding an early seventh place, the German car became a victim of the first restart following an accident between the Chinese and Portuguese teams on the first lap. When the safety car withdrew, however, Team Australia's John Martin pushed Ammermuller into spin, before colliding with the Irish car. Unable to avoid the melee, Indonesia's Satrio Hermanto then rammed Ammermuller, having himself been hit by Pakistan's Adam Khan.
