AlphaTauri have emphatically condemned accusations levelled at themselves and Red Bull following Yuki Tsunoda's retirement at the Dutch Grand Prix.
Tsunoda retired from the race at Zandvoort on Sunday, which triggered a virtual safety car - giving F1 leader and Red Bull ace Max Verstappen enough time to make a second pit stop and retain his lead and track position over Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.
But with AlphaTauri, who Tsunoda drives for, and Red Bull closely associated, conspiracy theories emerged online over the retirement but both teams have strongly insisted there was no collusion. Furthermore, the FIA stewards found that the Japanese driver had a problem with the differential on his AT03, which ultimately led to his DNF.
And now AlphaTauri have hit out at accusations aimed at them while also slamming those who have targeted Red Bull Racing's Head of Strategy, Hannah Schmitz.
In a statement put out on Monday evening, the F1 constructors said: "It is incredibly disheartening to read some of the language and comments directed at our team and towards Red Bull Racing's Head of Strategy, Hannah Schmitz.
"Such hateful behaviour cannot be tolerated, and to entertain accusations of foul play is unacceptable, untrue and completely disrespectful towards both Hannah and us.
"We have always competed independently, fairly and with the highest levels of respect and sportsmanship.
"Yuki had a failure that the team didn’t immediately detect which caused him to stop on track. To suggest anything different is insulting and categorically incorrect."
The Dutch GP was in the end won by Verstappen, who is already on the brink of winning a second world championship following his dramatic triumph at the end of last season.
The Dutch Red Bull star is currently a massive 109 points clear of his team-mate Sergio Perez and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in the F1 standings with seven races remaining.
Meanwhile, in the constructors standings, Red Bull are a huge 135 points ahead of Ferrari heading into the Italian Grand Prix at Monza on the weekend.
