Schumacher was almost disqualified, says Warwick

Published>Wed, Aug 04 10 12:08 AM

Michael Schumacher would have been disqualified from Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix if his risky move on Rubens Barrichello had been earlier in the race, steward Derek Warwick said on Tuesday.

Warwick, a retired Formula One racer acting as the drivers' representative on the four-man stewards panel at the Hungaroring, told BBC radio that the seven-times world champion should have been shown a black flag for almost driving the Brazilian into the pit lane wall.

Instead the former Ferrari ace, making a comeback with Mercedes after three years out and at the age of 41, was handed a 10-place penalty on the starting grid for his favourite Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps this month.

"Throwing a black flag would have shown a better example to our young drivers," said Warwick, who overlapped with Schumacher in Formula One for one season in 1993 when the Briton drove for the Footwork team.

"But by the time we got the video evidence we ran out of time and we had to do it retrospectively."

Barrichello, who skimmed the wall at 300 kph and then had to chop across the pitlane exit and on to the rough before passing Schumacher for 10th place, said it had been the most dangerous manoeuvre against him he had experienced in nearly 300 grands prix.

Schumacher made a rare apology to his former Ferrari team mate on Monday.

NO OPTION

"We interviewed Rubens and Michael and it was kind of disappointing how Michael handled it, and we had no option but to give him a 10-place penalty," said Warwick, whose brother was killed in a racing accident.

"We felt a 10-place penalty is a big penalty to carry for Spa," added the 55-year-old.

"It kind of puts him out of the race at Spa and hopefully he will learn from that and remember that the new stewards will not tolerate that driving."

Schumacher, winner of a record 91 races, has struggled to get back to where he left off and his driving has been criticised by others already this season.

So much so, that British bookmakers William Hill offered odds of 10-1 after Hungary of Schumacher getting a ban this season for dangerous driving.

They said in a statement that they had also cut the odds on him quitting before the next race from 50-1 to 33-1 following a number of bets.

In 12 races, the German has yet to stand on the podium and his form has been disappointing and erratic. He has also been overshadowed by young German team mate Nico Rosberg.

Mercedes GP team boss Ross Brawn, who defended Schumacher's actions against Barrichello, has placed much of the blame on the tyres which have changed significantly since the German last raced.

"I don't think Michael has quite worked out how to get the best from these tyres," he told reporters in Hungary.

"I also don't think they reward an aggressive style. Michael's talents are an aggressive-style car that is on the edge of stability and controlling it there. I don't think these tyres reward such an approach."

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