Schumacher given ten-place grid drop for his swerve at Barrichello (Updated)

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The Hungarian Grand Prix stewards are investigating Michael Schumacher for his attempt to keep Rubens Barrichello behind late in the race.

Barrichello took Schumacher for tenth late in the race but the Mercedes driver pushed him towards the pit wall and off the track on the run towards turn one.

Update: The stewards handed Schumacher a ten-place grid penalty for the Belgian Grand Prix for the incident.

Afterwards Barrichello said:

He made a mistake on the last corner.

You know we’ve been there and what we want from racing is to be fair and have battle, especially on a track that is so difficult to overtake on. You should choose a line and that’s it. But he just closed, closed, closed and luckily the wall ran out.

There’s not a rule for that but between ourselves we should just take a line, stick to a line and that’s it.
Rubens Barrichello

Schumacher was unrepentant:

There’s not much to say other than he obviously had fresher tyres and my job was to get last corner spot on. I had a line of about five centimetres that I had to hit and on that lap I ran a little wide and started sliding so my exit speed was compromised.

I knew he was coming so I was moving over to the inside to make it clear to him to go on the other side. He didn’t choose to so it was a bit tight.

But we know certain drivers have certain views and then there’s Rubens.
Michael Schumacher

Barrichello urged fans to share their thoughts on the incident saying:

It was the most dangerous thing that I’ve ever been through.

His view is that I’m always a big crier. I’d like to see the public vote. Let me know on Twitter!
Rubens Barrichello

The verdict of the stewards was as follows:

Fact: Illegitimately impeded Car 9 during an overtaking manoeuvre.
Offence: Involved in an incident as defined by Article 16.1 of the 2010 FIA Formula One Regulations
Penalty: Drop of 10 grid positions at the drivers next event.

2010 Hungarian Grand Prix

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    302 comments on “Schumacher given ten-place grid drop for his swerve at Barrichello (Updated)”

    1. http://i.imagehost.org/0640/bar-shu.jpg
      That was bloody terrifying, and also something Schumacher has done forever in Spa with Hakkinen for example. Grid penalty for sure!

      1. It’s funny his excuse was that Barichello should have gone on the outside, would be interesting if anybody ever managed it while being side by side :D

        1. The only way to get to the other side would have been through schumacher…then again, it wouldn’t be unlike schumacher to drive through someone to further his aims!

        2. I must admit I dont see anything wrong with Schumi here.

          I have been watching the footage over and over.
          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIJLRbU-lDI

          You can clearly see that Schumi takes one line and one line only, he does not move at all.
          You can clearly see before RB tries to over take that MS’s line will mean less space o the inside. MS does not move into RB, simply keeps his line

          1. Except that Rubens was already inside him when he was still moving over. If the wall was just a bit longer, they would have wrecked. Either Ruby into the wall or Michael into Ruby or possibly both. Imagine if a car was leaving the pit when all this was going on. He pushed him all the way over the other side of the wall, there could have been a serious accident. He ran him dangerously far to the right when Ruby already had his spot along side him, plain and simple.

            1. @Joey-Poey.

              Schumi picked his line, when RB was behind Schumi, Schumi did not at any point in time change that line.
              So RB already knew schumis line, but still went ahead and went inside.
              He could surely see, that it would be close.
              RB should have taken the outside path.
              Had Schumi swerved, or just changed path the slightest, then I could have seen an issue.
              But schumi didnt, he simply stayed on his path

          2. There are no detailed rules about this sort of thing.

            But there is an an unwritten rule that says “don’t endanger other drivers”.

            Schumacher broke that rule.

          3. Well you could say that Schumacher took one line only, problem is that line was sharp diagonal across the road, also while Rubens was already beside him.
            But that is not considered going straight(or keeping one line), you chose your line and then you go straight, and its similar to horse riding that I can relate to – when my trainer says Go straight! – He doesn’t mean don’t turn, he means go parallel to the side, which in this instance would be the racing line!

      2. We’re talking milimeters here. As in, just 1 or 2mm more and there would’ve been an almighty shunt. We all got lucky this time.

        1. We got hugely lucky today, hugely. Look what happened in the Superleague formula race today at Brands. Quite similar situation to today and with Webber in Valencia:

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je71qzTdzx0

      3. just wow. should get a harsh punish

      4. I still don’t see how this was any different to what Vettel did to Alonso last week.

        1. difference in speed, vettel and alonso were doing around 60-70 mph from the start, while schumi and rubens were doing around triple that.

          1. Maybe double and a bit. Surely speed of an incident (with the exception of the pits) should have no bearing on a judgement – in F1.

      5. That manoeuvre epitomises his career and his super licence should be withdrawn and he shoild be thrown out of the sport.

      6. Schumacher should be banned in next race. he does not set an example for young drivers. I think since barrichelo is a sensible driver the crash didnt happen. Imagine some1 like ALG or KOB for rubens.. the crash wud have happened for sure.

      7. Im unsure of this. It seems theres a bit of a Schumi witch-hunt at present. Senna was notorious for endangering other drivers lives (ask Brundel and Prost) but there is little said of this. Hamilton also changed racing lines twice last year to impede (I cant remember who), but nothing came of it.

        Perhaps Schumi was wrong, but I think there is a lack of consistancy in how drivers are judged. And Rubens is a cry baby. Lets face it.

        1. No DV, it’s a question of using a degree of common sense to differentiate between weaving to get rid of a tow (and effectively let someone past) and squeezing them into a concrete wall at high speed. Can you manage that? If so you’ll realize what you’re calling a ‘lack of consistency’ is simply different judgments for different situations.

    2. Well, another Schumacher move by Schumacher… wouldn’t expect anything less from him

    3. 3 race ban would be about right. A couple of meters and he could have killed his friend. Nice.

      1. 5 or 10 place grid penalty at the next race is what i’m expecting

        1. Me too, but that’s too lenient. FIA have a responsibility to show Formula 1 doesn’t condone insane, boy racer, semi-pyscho driving.

          1. You’ll find that semi psycho driving is the norm….

        2. GillesJeanKimi
          1st August 2010, 16:10

          Come on, that move was outrageous – 2-race ban, at least. I’ve watched F1 for 30 years, and that was truly the most dangerous thing I’ve ever seen (even by Schumacher and Senna standards). Two races on the sidelines would give him, and Ross Brawn hopefully, the chance to decide whether he should pack it in for good.

          1. On the piece of paper that shows the stewards are investigating the incident, it says they are considering a 10 place grid penalty for the next race as a punishment. They could give something different though, we’ll have to wait and see.

            1. What will 10 places do to that loser Schumacher? The man does confirms his foolishness with each passing race.

      2. Totally agree, if he can`t beat em fair then he`ll cheat same as always. At least 3 race ban.

      3. Irvine got a 3 race ban for less in 1994.

        Michael gets a much less severe penalty purely because there was no big accident.

      4. I don’t think they’re friends!! They don’t talk too kindly of each other after Rubens left ferrari.

      1. Back then it was bloody good racing. Now it’s a worst thing a driver can do…

        1. However, this was a fight for first place and both of them were fighting for the championship. This was a battle for 10th and Schumacher isn’t fighting for anything in the championship. This was non-sense.

          1. In the last race of the 1997 season, he practically did the same thing to Jacques Villeneuve and was thrown out of the entire season giving Villeneuve the championship. Maybe its an instinct to him to do that even if he wasnt fighting for anything. A bad habit and a dangerous one.

            1. He has a curious problem with blocking when he knows he’s been beat…

          2. It doesn’t matter which position it’s for, it’s still wrong.

            Prost was rightly furious at Senna.

            1. Prost should shut up because Senna left him more than three times the space Schumi left to Rubens today. And thank you “Webber fan” for showing us that Ayrton was a fair driver that knew where the limit is instead of Schumi who doesn’t.

          3. Especially as Senna backed of and moved over a lot earlier than Schumacher did yesterday.

        2. MouseNightshirt
          1st August 2010, 15:59

          That event was not even remotely similar.

          1. The event was kind of similar with the exception that the guy defending knew how to be fair and stop before risking killing someone. Thank God Senna had more brain than Schumi.

      2. Not the same thing… The McLaren gave each other enough room : it was just racing…
        Here, Barrichello was less than about 20cm from the wall : “that” is dangerous… Plus, it happened just before the pitlane exit… What if a car was getting out of the pit lane ?

        Michael is just a … for doing that move and faking to ignore the consequences it could have lead to.

        1. I was never a Schumacher fan because of his bad atitutes. Sure he was a good driver, most because he had a superb car in his ferrari’s days and the team worked for him and him alone. What we saw today was for me and as I can see, many other F1 fans, a reckless driver, like he was fighting for a title and not a seven times WDC. It’s a shame he’s “driving” his carrer down to toilet like that. Give it up Schumi. You’re history now. Accept that and retire once for all.

      3. That was nowhere near as tight as today’s though.

      4. Clearly not the same.. .much more room in case of mclarens

        1. Yeah, there the car on the inside was given enough space, here he was completely off the track, quite a big difference!
          http://i.imagehost.org/0640/bar-shu.jpg
          Here is a reminder for those with even worse short-term memory.

      5. Looked nowhere near as close, though I could be wrong.

      6. You have got to be kidding. Do you honestly think that’s comparable?

      7. No real comparison. Prost still had track space and Senna backed out fairly quickly when he realized Prost was intending to pass. Schumacher kept on pushing to the minimum possible. He was toying with Barrichello’s life. Sorry, I just think the guy’s a real idiot – to use a self-moderated word.

      8. What’s your point? How is this relevant?

      9. that was nowhere near as close. Sorry. If you look at the pictures of this incident, you’ll see he was basically in the wall. not a metre or two away from it. For those with poor sight.

      10. That incident between Senna and Prost looks exactly like what Vettel did to Alonso in Hockenheim.

        But it’s nothing like what Schumacher pulled today.

      11. I agree.

        Schumi gave him one car-width + around 20-25cm to play with. Even lesser space was given by Kimi to Michael at the 2006 Brazilian GP.

        Michael should receive a penalty only if Barrichello actually hit the wall. He didn’t. It was hard, bordering on the rules, but fair.
        And Schumacher has already received one unfair penalty this year, at Monaco. One more will be very unjust, especially when drivers like Hamilton get a spate of ‘warnings’ and other drivers like Vettel get penalised at the drop of a hat (like today. Where was the customary ‘warning’ about this ten-car-gap rule Mr.Stewards!!).

        1. Vettel did it before already. He dropped too far behind Webber in China too. I was wondering why he didn’t get a penalty there, but maybe they gave him a final warning.

          1. That was Button’s fault in China. He was ridiculous on the restart bunching the pack up dangerously.

            1. I’m talking about the gap he pulled before he went into the pitlane. That was a gap of several seconds. let alone car lengths

        2. Monaco has nothing to do with it. You’re saying they should be lenient on Schumacher’s homicidal aggression here because he was hard done by (in your opinion) on a previous occasion? Get real. By that reasoning, he’d have a penalty almost every race because of the litany of things he got away with in the past.

          You’re also saying that only actual crashes are actionable offenses, since Rubens didn’t actually hit the wall? What dross. So, an unsafe pit exit can only attract a penalty if some team workers actually get run over?

          This was an absolutely disgusting piece of homicidal aggression, and they should sit him out for Spa.

        3. Thanks for summing it up so eloquantly Sumedh.

          On second thought, why don’t we nail Schumacher to a cross and burn him at the stake while we are at it… Will fix the problem for once and for all…

          It is a fact that Senna has driven off more people in a season than many others did in their entire careers. Yet, we see no one flailing him for what he did and ever so unrepentantly.

          There’s a reason why Schumacher holds Hakkinen in much regard and i guess the same can be said about Hakkinen in how he views Schumacher… “hard as a nail, but fair.” They both raced each other hard… never gave each other a corner or whinged about how the other was doing whatever the other was doing. Then there’s Barrichello… Well, i do hold him in much regard for what he did at TG track (go faster than a stig he did)… but there’s a lot that Schumacher has done better than him here in F1… Like winning 7 world driver’s championships… 5 of them back to back. Do i think Rubens still resents Austria 2001? Yes, he does and he has a right to… but whinging doesn’t make it go away.

          1. good to know that there are some people here who don’t want to ban Schumacher for every little fart…

            The move was definetely borderline, I won’t call it fair, but those guys are great racers in great cars and obviously Rubens was able to use the remaining space. I’m also tired of drivers and fans playing the “you could have killed me” card – we all know how safe these cars are and if Barrichello would have hit the wall at that angle there wouldn’t have been any more than some suspension damage.
            There doesn’t have to be a penalty, but it wouldn’t be totally wrong. Maybe a grid penalty for Spa.

            The real dangerous stuff happened in the pitlane today. We all know what loose wheels can do, this was totally unacceptable.

            1. No. On the other hand, if Barrichello had hit one of Schumacher’s wheels his car would have been flung up in the air, and, quite possibly, landed back down on the pitlane fencing (which isn’t remotely high enough) and killed ten people.

            2. Yes Ilanin because if we took that view, no one would be racing at all…..

            3. I remember Schumacher going into the Mclaren garage & accusing David Coulthard of trying to kill him when HE ran into the back of Coulthards car in Spa 1998, funny how it’s never his fault.

            4. The problem on this forum is that a high percentage of comments are from younger fans who never saw the “beefy” days of Prost and Senna,or the races of Hill and Schumacher and Hakkinen.
              Hill and Schumacher came to blows in nearly every race, but they didn’t cry in those days,they fought hard,wheel to wheel,and Senna pushed many people off the track,walls near or no.He was a great driver,always on the edge.
              Webber would have suited then as he is a tough cookie.
              Races now are not the same,no characters in them.Why do you think that Murray Walker,who loved Hill with a passion,always said that the best driver ever was Schumacher.
              No one wants anyone killed,but F1 “was” (not “is” anymore) always an edge of the seat sport.Now I go to sleep in most of them as they are so boring and processional.The excitement is gone sadly.

        4. This situation is not comparable at all. That was racing and there was enough room left. In todays example Schumacher kept pushing Barrichello towards the wall even when they were side by side.

          1. Rubens had no business to put himself there in a risky situation. Michael was closing the door and one could see it… He had options of:
            -Going on the outside &
            -braking too.
            Yet, he went on the inside… It’s like having a laxative and complaining about your diarrhoea. I know, it is a bit off an example… but best explains the complaint from Rubens :D

            What a whinger… just when i was starting to like him even more for being faster than the Stig, he has to go whinge :P

            1. Sorry? No business attempting a pass? It is motor racing after all and passing is a key element! That pass was built up over two laps and Rubens capitalised on a mistake. Michael is the one who should have chose to show some sportsmanship for a change, not increase the risk in a stupid manner as he clearly saw him coming and attempted to cut him off very late. Rubens showed who has the bigger balls on the day.

            2. @ mos

              Kindly read what i had said before… “No business to put himself in a risky situation.” It doesn’t mean he should not have had tried to overtake. They are two different things…

              Here’s a video of the exact moment…
              http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFsi2kSeubU

              Schumacher swerved to left and kept to the inside line… Ruben went there too… It was a racing incident… Since Rubens was behind, the logical thing to conclude, unless one hates Schumacher really, is Rubens could have simply chose to brake… Or, could have started the overtaking move on the outside/ racing line. The fact that he didn’t and pressed on means he did put himself in a risky position, just as i mentioned. Or do you still think that Schumacher should have had bent over and let Rubens pass, cause it was getting uncomfortable. Even though, Schumacher had little in placing Ruben’s car where it was. I suppose Schumacher didn’t control Ruben’s car by RC and put it there on grass for effect, as he hasn’t been hated and derided by the media and public in a while :D

        5. Right u r Sumedh!
          It was a legit move by my guess.
          wat about when Lewis did the same to Petrov(same? a lot more i guess)?
          he got away with it and Lewis fans cheering, but when schumi does it……

      12. this is not even close to what happen today

      13. This is not the same, different championship situation. One clean move was made over and then once he realised that the other car was fully there he moved back over.

        Today Schumacher moved over slowly at first then in a last attempt moved over more and didn’t back off until Rubins was on the grass after missing the wall by an inch. All this for 1 point and Schuie is not in any championship hunt, it was a stupid move and he deservers a race ban at least

        Schuie just go home! Mercedes should put Heidfeld in his seat he would do a better job!

        1. Wow Vince… So what you’re saying is, if you kill someone for championship it is ok? Stick with something… either it is right, or its wrong… What you’re talking about is not right and wrong… but rather what is convenient.

      14. Sorry mate cant compare Wot schumacher done was crazy you just shouldn’t be trying to put a fellow driver in the wall wheres the respect??? Ruby was quicker thats that.

        Good drive by webber

      15. thats no where near as bad

      16. This is an example of a dangerous move that was still not half as dangerous as Schumacher’s move yesterday.

    4. You disgust me Michael, its an outstanding display of the worst in human traits, and I’m not talking about the move, but your attitude.

      Congrats mate, congrats.

    5. “His view is that I’m always a big crier.”

      Well, you ARE a big crier.

      But Schumachers defensive move was unfair, but Barrichello drove himself into danger and sorry to say, but he should have expected a defensive move of some kind. As stated previously it is obvious there is a lot of hate going on between these two.

      1. Joking wright?? Defensive move and trying to kill someone isnt the same thing as far as i see it… but you obvioulsy have a diffrent view :?

        1. So what you are saying is that Schumachers objective today was to kill Barrichello?

          1. Yes, because that would mean a lot of bad stories about Shumacher dead! :D

          2. Objective, no. But he deliberately drove in a way that put his life at risk.

            1. Though it should be pointed out Barrichello wasn’t adverse to steering Hamilton high-speed towards the pit wall at Interlagos in 2009. Though he was the one who picked up the damage.

    6. Quite astonishing that a racer (MSC) of his caliber had to really go that far and endanger a fellow racers life – Rubens you are a very very lucky ‘family’ man. Awful display of arrogance on Schumi’s part

      1. It’s not exactly the first time Schumacher has gone this far. Didn’t make it right then, and doesn’t make it right now. Frankly, I’d ban him for good.

      2. fully agree Nick,
        and the fact that Rubens has handed (MSC) wins in the past makes it even worse, and to top it off Rubens still had to pit at some stage which would of handed the position back anyway.
        stupid Michael very stupid.

        1. No, this was after Barrichello pitted, before he was 5th – now he was 11th and on fresh tires behind Schumacher, which is how he got to be in a faster car but looking for track position.

    7. One or two race ban.

      He could have been killed, that’s not hyperbole. It’s lucky that there wasn’t anyone coming out of the pits, who knows what would have happened then.

      1. i don’t see the problem. SCH gave BAR enough space. yeah it was close, but overtaking’s always close. i doubt he would have died either.

    8. Michael is such a driver, making those bad moves, bad attitude.
      I respect Rubens more and more.
      Ban for Michael.

    9. I didn’t expect anything else from Schumacher to be frank. Yet it was extremely dangerous, irresponsible and stupid, especially when you take into account the fact it was a fight for 10th place. Mr “7-time world champion” should get some kind of penalty.

      1. Totally agree, Cyclops. And the fact that he hadn’t done this as far in the race is even worse!

    10. What makes it worse is you can see him watching Rubens in his mirrors. First looking to his left and then as the pass is happening watching Rubens on his right. That was a terrible piece of driving. Michael, it’s time to go …

    11. This reminds me of Massa overtaking Webber in Fuji 2008
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxY_bpUIfLs

      1. Very similar but if it’s not Schumacher doing it. It’s not a story.

        1. Well obvioulsy again not the same thing… massa had plenty of time to see mark in closing the inside… clearly massa picked the narrower side andyway, where as Rubens had enough room when he decided to go on the insider and it was until then when schumacher began to close the space

          1. You’re right it’s a different situation but still pretty close!=D

      2. Yeah, Webber we now is always stupidly defending
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buArrMpQgGo

        1. Now heres completly marks faoult… agree on that… he closed to late

          1. That’s just the way Aussies race. Road Warrior style!

      3. But in that case Webber was almost touching the line when Massa still decided to go to the right of Webber. There simply wasn;t space for Massa to go and he still did it.

        If anything they should have penalized Massa for overtaking another driver outside of the track.

        In this case Barrichello is besides Schumacher when there is still ample space for his whole car to fit, but Schumacher just squeezes him off track. He even keeps squeezing till Barrichello is almost in the wall.

        Schumacher vs Barrichello:
        http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4096/4849712056_fb795e3631.jpg

        Webber vs Massa:
        http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4077/4849711970_e00c59ecd7.jpg

        1. Christian Ditch
          1st August 2010, 16:47

          “They should have penalised Massa for overtaking another driver outside of the track”

          I think that comment invalidates anything you will ever say again

          1. Agreed, Christian.

            @ Patrickl
            LOL, get outta here.

          2. lol
            commenttooshort

        2. Well he passed webber on the side when Webber was already touching the line.

          Massa had no right going off track to pass Webber.

      4. Except for the fact that there was no room for Massa to go into, in the first place.

        Webber didn’t push Massa against the wall, like MSC did today.

    12. Rubens loved Ayrton. Senna would have been a legend for doing this but Schumacher an idiot.

      That aside what a stupid move, very dangerous. I like close racing but not that close.

      1. Yeah you have to die a spectacular death first.
        I believe it’s in the bible somewhere…

    13. LOL @ schumacher’s comment!
      ‘”I think I left him too much room because he passed.”‘

    14. Love how it was Rubens fault. Tommy made a wonderful comment on the live blog that Schu has done this and is a villain and yet Senna is hailed. It shows how driving standards have changed and the different perceptions of drivers. This sort of move whether admired or hated should not be tolerate though. Schu isn’t the only one to try to drive into someone this season nor is it the first time he has moved late under braking. The stewards seriously need to clamp down for driver safety nevermind for just upholding standards.

      1. Rubens got a lot closer to the wall than Prost did. And Senna didn’t ram him over the pit lane exit! Think what could have happened if someone had been exiting the pits. Schumi obviously didn’t. He didn’t even know where he was, it was just red mist.

      2. Er, no. Some of us thought Senna wrong when he did this too. Those of us with long memories often think the sainted Senna was the beginning of truly atrocious driver behaviour. And, just like the professional foul in football, once you’ve let it slide, it just keeps getting worse. In football, of course, you can end someone’s career. In F1, you can kill them.

        1. Senna was actually vilified by the press and other drivers for his move at Estoril. Balestre used it as Exhibit A in his attempt to run Senna out of the sport the following year. Some people probably did try to argue that Senna did nothing wrong there but (a) they were wrong, and (b) it was actually mild by comparison with today.

          Really it’s all just an attempt to deflect the issue. What Michael did today has nothing to do with Senna, or Massa/ Webber at Fuji. Neither case was comparable but even if it was, it doesn’t change anything. This was simply disgusting, terrifying, insane.

          I want to hear Corinna Schumacher on the subject, because he didn’t just put Rubens’ life at risk, he risked his own neck, and I’m left wondering what the thinking is. Would Michael play Russian roulette if it would earn him a point? Is F1 a place only for drivers who have nothing to lose?

          It’s simple. He needs to be sat out at Spa. Mercedes can put someone else in the car and, you never know, he might be able to get some points and not be lapped and 3.5s off the pace.

        2. Completely agree with this post.

      3. I’m pretty sure, that if Schumacher had been killed on track in middle 2006 almost all people wood look differently at him now. But both took aggressive driving to a new level and a lot of others have since picked up some of their tricks (Vettel, Hamilton, and a lot of others in junior racing as well)

        This move (pushing Rubens into the wall when he was next to him) while Schumi clearly sees Rubens in his mirror all the time was meant to block Rubens off or make him feel the pain.

        It was too much and a bad example of driving.

    15. “But we know certain drivers have certain views and then there’s Rubens.” – Michael Schumacher

      lol that one is quite the diss xD

    16. Oy vey. Here I was through the first half of the season, ready to give kudos to a driver I once despised just for having the drive to come back to competition. Today Schumacher reminded me why his undeniably immense talent will always remain in the shadow of his utter self-important disregard for racing ethics and, this time, for another drivers’ safety. Ugly, ugly, ugly and bordering on criminal. Boo.

      1. Well said! BOO!!

    17. Ross Brawn to Schumacher: “Rubens is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?”

      1. I guess that he hasn’t been used to do those team orders directed to him much :-p

    18. The most dangerous, reckless, unsportsmanlike, stupid and unnecessary piece of arrogant behaviour I can remember seeing. Schumacher should have been black flagged immediately (Charlie Whiting does not need a stewards opinion to do that) and now he should get a three race suspension or his Super-License revoked.
      Alternatively, he could retire and fade [dis]gracefully into the sunset.

      1. Yuji Ide had his superlicence revoked in 2006 for a move on Albers that was nothing compared to this. Disgraceful behaviour from Schumacher considering the circumstances.

        1. I always thought that it also counted against Ide that he was just a slow paydriver, secretly. Now, arguably, Schumacher is in this team because of the sponsor potential, so maybe you could construct an argument for him being a slow pay-driver to Rosberg, but it isn’t the same, really.

          1. This is racing. If you think that a driver is expected to give space and let the guy pass then I am sure none of us would be watching the sport. I am sure no driver would be willing to do that. This move became dangerous because of Rubens and not Micheal. If you clearly watch the video, Micheal was always going for the inside and sticked to his line. It was Rubens who had the faster car and needed to plan the move and he went on the wrong side to make it dangerous. What do you expect Micheal to do, instead of figthing for position just stay aside and let him pass easily. If that is what you guys think is racing I am sorry.

            1. justbull racing
              1st August 2010, 17:39

              surely you can’t be that much of an idiot

            2. Stuffing someone into a wall isn’t racing. Barrichello was already past because Schumacher had left a sufficient gap for him to pass – as he himself pointed out! The problem was Schumacher *continuing* to push right *after* the pass was happening – leaving RB nowhere to go or any chance of braking and pulling out of the maneouvre.

              As shown at Canada, Schumacher is now out of his depth and his only recourse is trying to intimidate the faster drivers going past him. Since even that’s not working, he really should quit and let Heidfeld take over.

            3. For him to be able to be stuffed in to the wall, he has to be beside him first. That’s the mistake of RB… to choose a line that was being closed which was right beside a wall. His car was 3 seconds faster than MS’s and he could easily have had him. RB just has ego problem with MS. Look what he said: “I have a lot of experience and usually with a crazy guy like that I would lift off, but not today, absolutely not”. Why? Just because it was Michael.

              MS was moving to the right. Now he can’t look in the mirrors all the time coz he is driving. He expected RB to take the other line but when he suddenly saw that he was beside him, he swerved to the left to save RB from going on to the grass. You don’t see that and you blame Michael left & right. Be fair guys.

            4. Afeef and other Schumacher apologists: it’s quite simple. Schumacher continues to squeeze Barrichello towards the wall when the move has been made. It wasn’t a racing maneouver, it was Schumacher getting revenge for being passed by RB by pushing him within cm’s of a serious accident. And the excuse made by some others that all high-speed Formula 1 accidents are now guaranteed 100% non-lethal is just stupid.

    19. Barrichello saw he was closing the door yet he dicided to go for it… Wat was he expecting micheal to give the space and tell please pass…?? He went for wheel banging and came out on top. he shouldn’t be crying.
      Micheal could have been a bit easy when closing the door.. But then that’s micheal.

      1. A driver can close the door on another driver, but not when there is whole car in that door already!

        1. Well, when MS saw that RB stupidly TOOK the line he was closing so rapidly, he made a quick swerve to the left to save him from going on to the grass. RB got himself dangerously close to the wall and MS has to help him not go on the grass. RB should retire. Too emotional to be an F1 driver.

      2. “Barrichello saw he was closing the door yet he decided to go for it…”

        I must acknowledge that. Although I think Schumacher is at fault and i repeat that again, it is obvious that Barrichello was also in control of how he decides to carry out the executed move. Especially if he is so claiming that it was the most dangerous one of his life.

      3. I completely agree.

    20. Yes, it’s dangerous. but let just say it happens on a corner with a large run off area.. what would happen? it would be that either Barrichello would run slow on his offtrack excursion and join back behind Schumacher or he would overtake Schumacher while cutting the chicane and he need to give the position back.

    21. Schui,just as desperate now as he was just before his retirement.
      Judgement gone, attitude appalling,sportsmanship was never there anyway and becoming more dangerous race by race . Schui out Heidfeld in that’s my call.

    22. I’ve been a Schumi fan for a long time, and despite people saying it’s always been this dangerous (which I disagree), today’s move was really dangerous (and unnecessary) for me.

      anyways I’m voting for Schumacher because Rubens really is a big crier xDD

    23. Reminds of that famous Schumi/Häkkinen moment at Spa in 2000(or was it 2001?).

    24. for ppl with veryvery short memory
      only 1 week ago
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wPeEo7t9CY
      but michael wasn’t involved so nobody gave a ****

      1. There actually was some uproar about that, but that wasn’t nearly as dangerous.

      2. Well said.

        Anyone else and it would have been a footnote to the race. Vettel lost his position and so did Michael.

        It was just a case of hard driving – I’d hardly say it was unfair or any different than other similar attempts to prevent a pass.

        And for people saying there was nothing at stake – then why did Rubens bother to overtake at all?

        These guys are racers, your running position is always at stake. In this case it also carried the final point. I expect the battle for 11/10 will always be fought harder than the battle for 10/9…

        1. Schumacher cut his teeth on the likes of Senna who would push and push until there was no ground to give.Reubens had an axe to grind but he isn’t so innocent as younger people on the forum think – did you see the way he was holding hands with Eddie Jordan at the end of the race.Eddie is another wind up merchant,they suit each other.

          I recall Damon Hill and Schumacher nearly killing each other in every race,but that is F1 racing,that is what it’s all about.

      3. Are you kidding? you can’t compare it with that !

    25. The answer of schumacher is not complete. When he says rubens is crying he is refering to the comment of rubens during the race about schum being hard to overtake.
      Schumacher then admitted that he was a bit mean in his move but also said that he is known for being very tough. So a much more sensible answer than the one written in the article.
      Yes it was dirty but they didnt touch, schumacher didnt change line. It is hard to penalise on level of “toughness”. It is motor racing so all these comments on “fairness” are in a way pathetic. Classic british media. Always whinning about others not being fair (footbal world cup, f1, etc). Last month it was redbull not being fair with webber, last week ferrari, now schumacher…

      1. couldn’t say it better myself

      2. “Classic British media”
        I don’t think in this case things are that simple, and it’s definitely not just the British making a big deal out of it. The German commentators (who are generally very Schumacher-friendly to the point of approving anything he does) were highly critical of what happened as well… and while that alone might not say anything about the level of fairness, it makes pretty clear that this wasn’t just another incident that no one would care about if it didn’t involve a 7-time world champion.

      3. Well the British media will continue to harp on this story since they have nothing good to write about their own team today, do they?

    26. in the interview on the italian tv, schumacher said he actually left too much space, since he was able to pass.

    27. Reading the french news, it is completely different level of drama. One line at the end of the article mentionning schumacher being “a bit tough” with barrichelo. Same last week, no such scandal about massa letting alonso through. It was Pure hypocrisis to complain about it

      1. Well, the Dutch newspapers did only spend one line on Massa letting Alonso past, but then again, the whole article was only a paragraph or two – F1 just isn’t a big thing here, so none of it gets much attention, if any at all, in newspapers.

    28. Ridiculous, absurd, shameful. Not only the dangerous move, but also his statement about the whole episode.
      I truly hope Schumacher takes heavy punishment.

      1. Nice one.

        Indeed Barrichello almost tried the same thing on Hamilton then.

        At least Barrichello offered his excuse for that incident with Hamilton though. Even after it cost him a puncture.

    29. Looks like we need a poll, Keith!

    30. The thing is: Schumacher kept pushing dangeoursly even when they already were side by side. He should have backed off once he saw Barrichello wouldn’t give up. He didn’t risky Rubens life, he risked his own life too and perhaps lives of those who were on the other side of the pit wall…

      Yes, Barrichello is a big crier, but today he was right.

      1. So you think there was nothing wrong in Barrichello putting himself in such a situation and Michael should have backed off as Rubens was brave and knight in shining white armour and Michael is the “ruthless” black knight :P?

        This is not to insult you mate… but this is motor racing… if you think this is dangerous… please watch some crashes from BTCC… :D People do it on two wheels in Moto-GP at 300 Kmph+… why should overtaking be any easier on two wheels?

        1. Sorry… i meant to say:
          why should overtaking be any easier on “four” wheels?

      2. “He should have backed off once he saw Barrichello wouldn’t give up.”

        Do you even listen to yourself when throwing that stupid, hypocritical nonsense around?!?!?!

        Why shouldn’t it be: Rubens should have backed off once he saw Michael wouldn’t give up????

        What is this? Does attempting an overtaking manoever make you more important than other drivers?? Huh???

        1. You are absolutely right. If you have a car which dares to be side by side with you at 300 km/h you should not change your trajectory whatsoever. You should continuously keep it until:
          1) The other car vanishes in the air.
          2) The other car smashes into pieces at the wall.
          3) The other car stops and the driver writes a note of appologies to you.
          You are right, this thing called steering wheel is designed only to change the car trajectory only once. Never give up, don´t blink. That´s the way a great driver must act.

          1. @claudioff
            Wow mate… It was nice how you twisted what was said completely out of context… Unless you were blind , which i guess you’re not, you saw Rubens come in from behind… Rubens chose to put his car where it was and as such becomes more responsible than Michael in that regard. Michael did leave enough room on the outside line. Rubens should have started the move on the outside line… but he did what he did… which was clearly not the best option…

            Let us say you have an option to on the outside where there’s empty track and and on the other hand… there’s inside line, where there’s a car already… between you and me mate… which way would you go? Rubens cut it really tight as he tried to be in the slipstream till the last second… and then chose what was honestly not the best option… Then his verbal diarrhoea followed…

            By your logic, the driver of the car in front should have had bent over and let the one coming from behind do him over (yes, i know it sounds cheesy :D)… is it? You’re talking about racing drivers… who don’t give an inch, unless required…

            1. I am not blind and I watched the overtaking from many angles. I am also don´t think that overtaking should be easy, like the guy in front must be adviced by radio and gently forget to accelerate after a curve. My points are: When Barrichello choose the inside line (the best one), Schumaker was at the middle of the track. Barrichello managed to put half of his car side by side Schumaker´s car while he was still inside the track. Ýou could clearly see from the frontal camera angle that Schumaker´s head is looking towards Barrichello´s wheels (He knew he was there). The amazing thing is that all I described until now took only 1 second. In my opnion Schumaker at this point should stop to squeeze him. But he continued doing so, endangering Barrichello and himself for another second. I am not blind, so as the stewards.

    31. Most sensible drivers would have backed out the move when they saw that MS was closing the door. RB chose to try and squeeze though and thats exactly what he did.

      MS didn’t swerve one way and then the other to try and keep RB behind, he just decided to block the inside line. RB decided to go for it anyway which meant it was always going to be close because MS wasn’t likely to mve aside and wave him through.

      1. But he kept on pushing him towards the wall and later towards the edge of the track when they were already side-by-side. That is the dangerous part and that is why Schumacher received a penalty.

    32. Christopher Vissing
      1st August 2010, 16:21

      Omg.. Not referring to Schuu but U guys.. 3 race ban? A lifetime raceban? Michel didn’t actually do anything “wrong” according to the rules..

      The biggest thing he can get is a disqualification.. even that is maybe taking it a bit to far..

      And nice post by “Pi”

    33. Schu apparently has a 10 grid drop position for Spa

      1. Yeah, seen it on the bbc forum. Hes being punished for it, lets hope things like that don’t happen again, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

    34. 10 grid drop, how you like them apples schumi!

    35. 10 place drop for MS

    36. Younger Hamilton
      1st August 2010, 16:34

      10 Grid Positions Penalty for Schumi in Spa,Absolutely correct punishment poor Rubens could have had a serious accident if he did indeed touched the wall and Schumi could have took himself out too.

    37. Kimi squeezed micheal to pit wall in 06 brazil… As slater famously said ” wat is it like at 300 kms per hour” … Nobody bothered to say a word for kimi… When it’s micheal everybody has an opinion..

      And mercilessly say senna would ve been a legend for this kind of move… How biased can ppl get..

      And yes it’s because he left him space was Rubens able to overtake… Gutsy move by Rubens … If he had taken it like a man without crying ppl d ve credited him as a great gutsy move… Like micheal on kimi.. 06 brazil

      1. kaks
        well said
        if the situation was opposite michael would have not even talk about that. because he is a man not a “Barrichello”

    38. To be honest, now, with the calm after the race setting in, I think there is a big disappointment into this: everyone will now talk about Schummel-Schumi, but will anyone admire the sheer guts of Rubens pulling this one off? I mean, virtually every other driver would have pulled back and cried on the team radio that Michael’s so mean to them. … well, Rubens complained as well, but only after passing and thereby telling Michael: “Up yours, buddy!”

    39. 10 Place Grid Drop for MSC! Should have been a race ban for Spa, out of order IMO

    40. Ok… now it is time for a lesson in facts… There’s a pit-lane light(blue colour, blinks), which warns cars coming from in the pit-lane of oncoming faster cars on the track… These chaps notice it alright… that’s what they do for a living, live at 300 Kmph+.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFsi2kSeubU

      You could see in this video rather clearly… there was a lot of space on the outside… Schumacher DID slightly turn his car to the right to hint that he would go to right… and then Rubens went to the right as well… the result of this was some real scary close-up driving… Rubens did have a choice… he didn’t make any other than the one he did…

      As i saw it, Rubens was trying to force an issue with Schumi, which he was able to… bless him… However, the flip side would have been him hitting the car in the front, or the wall first and then collecting Schumacher as he went crashing… If at all there was an accident, i’d blame Rubens more… Schumacher could be blamed if he pushed him away when they were side by side… but, Ruben was behind and he chose the line… In this case, Michael could be perhaps blamed if he slowed on the straight, like DC in Spa, ’98. Michael didn’t!

      1. At Spa 98 DC was asked to slow down so MS could overtake. By Ferrari.

        1. Do you slow down on the racing line then?

      2. The same as Webber on Massa in Japan 2008:
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxY_bpUIfLs

        Rubens is a whiner!
        He could’ve backed off, but he chose not to. So what’s his darn problem…

        1. Backed off? Pffft are you kidding.

          LOL, get outta here. F1 is for racers not people trying to pass outside of the track but when on track you shouldn’t get pushed off.

    41. Too bad for Schumacher this wasn’t 40 years ago, or someone would have punched his lights out before the media got to him.

      1. Ain’t that true.

    42. Schumacher almost could have killed rubens. He’s a hasbeen. ban him for the rest of the year

    43. I’ve read here people comparing Schumacher’s actions today with that of Ayrton Senna’s at Estoril in 1988. While not condoning either drivers actions, I don’t think Senna’s was as dangerous as what Schumi did and it does show a continuation of MS’s win at all costs attitude, even though this wasn’t even for the win, it was more of a personal FU to Rubens Barrichello.

      The reason I don’t think Senna was as bad in Portugal in 88 was because once he saw that Prost was actually going to get past him he backed off and stopped pushing Prost towards the pit wall. Schumacher kept going until the Williams was almost touching the wall. Remember also that Senna & Prost were on lap 2 of that race. Off the line Prost had actually almost pushed Senna off onto the outside grass before Turn 1. Still, it didn’t stop Prost from being very upset about it and the two had words later.

      But for mine the difference is that while Senna probably meant no malice in his move, history has shown that Schumacher would sometimes rather crash his rivals for the win rather than fight them to the finish (Hill in Adelaide 94 & Villeneuve in Spain 97 come to mind). The only time Senna did this was Suzuka 90 when he deliberately crashed into Prost. He admitted it was payback for what he believed was Prost’s deliberate crash into Senna 1 year earlier. That and he firmly believed that FISA president, Frenchman Jean-Marie Balestre, was favoring Prost.

      To make a short story long, Schumacher should be punished. I now read he has a 10 place grid drop for the Belgium Grand Prix. Tough luck but justice really.

      1. good comment, but there’s also that undertone like in most of the other comments: Senna the saint, Schumacher the villain.

        1. You should watch the Jerez ’97 video… again… Here’s a clip of Schuey’s onboard video just before the incident…

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2MeWpZSeL8

          You could see just before the coming together… that Villeneuve was going straight… which was a result of late braking (which is why the other video is important) and wouldn’t have bloody made the corner, had Shcumacher’s car was not there to help him… A plain racing incident… Even the commentator said as much… However, the F1 media (still largely British to this day and resents ’94) thought otherwise :D

          Frankly, Michael was rather popular with the British press ever since ’94, which again was a racing incident. The onus was on Hill, as he was behind and franky, who dives into a corner when there’s another car already :P. Wait… Damon Hill!

          Monaco ’06. I wouldn’t defend that… trust me… not unless i see telemetry from his car. Then again, Kimi got stuck in that same same corner the next year… Nobody picked him up on that :D

          Today, Michael didn’t want to kill Rubens, as many put it… he just wanted to scare him into braking and not fight for the position… Rubens did and questionably so. He didn’t take the best line… Then he went on a whinge spree :D

        2. I really wasn’t trying to paint Senna as a saint and Schumacher as a villain. I was just pointing out that MS has never had a problem with forcing other drivers off the road if it means that he stays in front of them whereas Senna rarely did that even though he probably had as many opportunities as Schumacher.

          In race commentary Martin Brundle actually recounted after the MS/RB incident that Schumi had actually done something similar to him when they were team mates at Benneton back in 1992 so it shows a long history of Schumacher’s on-track behavior. Team mate or rival, it didn’t seem to matter to Schumacher. Beat them at all costs seems to be his attitude.

          Other than Suzuka 1990 I can’t recall Senna deliberately taking an opponent out to win or gain a place. Hard racing was done yes but not to the point of almost causing a major accident. I point out Jerez in 1986 on the run to the flag. Did Senna take out Mansell? No, he let him race and beat him by 0.14 seconds

          There is a difference between racing hard and crashing someone to win or for personal reasons.

          Oh well, he’s been penalised now. Time to move on to Belgium.

          1. I wasn’t so lucky to see Senna race in F1, I have to rely on youtube footage here and so I’m not trying to argue your point here ;)

            But I also don’t remember Schumacher crashing into opponents that much, I can only think of two well-known incidents where the Championship was at stake.
            Today he was racing hard, but no one crashed since there were two highly-skilled drivers involved.

            But you are right, let’s move on…Schumacher can propably live with the penalty and maybe we’ll get to see him move through the field at Spa and see some more positive aspects of his racecraft :)

      2. Hey, watch the Senna’s tribute on Top Gear, he crashed into Brundle, into Prost, into anybody, just to say you either get out of my way or you crash too.

    44. Too bad i missed the race wish there was a video.

    45. A grid penalty seems fair. I think a race ban would have been a bit harsh. If he had scored points, I probably would have black flagged him.

    46. Christopher Vissing
      1st August 2010, 17:20

      Thinking about it after the race, u can also say that it was a pretty stupid move by barrichello.. U guys are out of mind overreacting thinking of ban and so on..

      And btw.. how can Rubens say this was more dangerous than his driver mistake at Imola 94??

      1. That wasn’t an overtake.

    47. paul sainsbury
      1st August 2010, 17:24

      Rubens did not make a ‘mistake’. That is plainly ridiculous. Anyone who has done any racing themselves will have shuddered at that move. I think a 10 place penalty is very lenient, and I really hoped that there would have been a ban to send out a clear message that this kind of thing is unacceptable. Someone really could have been killed there.

    48. paul sainsbury
      1st August 2010, 17:26

      I meant to say Rubens did not make a mistake today, not in Imola 1994. Certainly that was a mistake, and totally irrelevant when discussing the events of today.

    49. Alan (F1 Assie fan)
      1st August 2010, 17:32

      Schumacher has yet again lost my respect as a great driver.Rubens was forced to play 2nd fiddle to Michael many times but had victory over him today and most importantly and luckily survived a blatant act of dangerous driving.Michael,hold your head down in shame.

    50. Christopher Vissing
      1st August 2010, 17:35

      Making my point more clear.. I do think Michel did make it a little bit too intense with what he did.. But aswell.. I do think that what Rubinho tried was a bit risky, and not to clever (it was not a “mistake”, but i think it was a Rambo move)..

      And I don’t believe anyone could’ve been killed with the safety we got in formula 1 today.. Have u seen some other crashes and incidents we’ve seen recently?

      And of course i can mention Imola 94 was more dangerous, because Rubinho says that THIS is the most dangerous he tried in his (is it 17-year?) career.. Which it isn’t..

      (Sorry for bad english)

    51. The concequences of what could have happened if Schumacher did touch or force Barrichello to the wall were scarily demonstrated today at the Superleague race at Brands Hatch coincedentally enough. Similar to Mark Webber’s crash as well

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXkTFocu6ho

      He was lucky to escape!

      1. Christopher Vissing
        1st August 2010, 17:43

        Yeah indeed.. The safety is still bigger in F1.. and Mark Webber’s crash shows how safety the sport is..

    52. Christopher Vissing
      1st August 2010, 17:41

      Btw.. anybody remember what Kubica did in Canada with the force india? Why didn’t that get any attention? Today was big, but it’s about names also..

      1. Not really.

        1st off, Kubica wasn’t defending his position during a fight for points.

        2nd, Kubica did let Sutil past and then set straight for pits, but Sutil understood it as an overtake attempt and blocked the outside.Kubica had to pit, so he decided to get around Sutil on the inside, since he was left with little choice.

        3rd, it looked dangerous, but after the race, on recaps, you could clearly see Sutil didn’t even have to slow down or change direction. He got confused, sure, but it had more to do with a car suddenly flashing in front of him.

      2. Kubica got a penalty for that

        1. I don’t get the whole ‘names’ argument. Even if there is more media coverage of this it’s obviously because Schumacher is a 7-times world champion and is notorious for doing this kind of thing. He gets punished for it and then does it again and again so obviously there is going to be greater media coverage because the media know how much disbelief people will be in. Kubica is not a 7-times world champion and not notorious for doing this kind of thing and, if I remember, people still said that was a bit of a distasteful move by him. Being successful or well known will bring more media attention so I don’t see what the argument’s trying to prove. People are reacting to this because it’s unsportsmanlike and the media will react to that.

        2. No Patrickl, you have got your facts wrong.

          Kubica was given a ‘reprimand’. No penalty

          1. You’re joking right? What do you think a reprimand is? A blessing?

            A reprimand is one of the “penalties” that the stewards can hand out.

            You really should get your facts straight when you tell people to get their facts straight …

    53. Did anyone see the Superleague crash today at Brands Hatch? Similar to Mark Webber’s accident in Valencia and could have happened to Barichello today!

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXkTFocu6ho

      He was lucky to escape alive

      1. Sorry a double post there, wasn’t really paying attention….

    54. Schumacher pulled a totally dangerous move. There was no need to push Rubens to within inches of the wall. That could have caused a terrible accident for BOTH of them. It was soooo right to give him a penalty!

    55. MS should get bigger penalty. That could have been very bad and Rubens would have been hurt very badly.
      Give MS some big penalty as he is doing these kind of things too often.

    56. That MS might (?) have realised what he was doing is a fine point. The problem really is do other drivers realise what you are doing. From what I saw either MS messaged RB, or MS calculatingly and deliberately tried to impede RB, with a dangerous and illegal move.
      In either event it seems very clear that MS’s return to F1 is damaging his status as a formerly respected ‘winner’. He is not the man he once was and ‘professional fouls’ like this one only serve to diminish him and put other driver’s lives at risk.
      F1 is not a sport where any true fan wishes to see such unsportsmanlike conduct or to see skilled and brave drivers pay the price for someone else’s error of judgement with their own lives.
      Time to go, MS!

    57. Todd Livingstone
      1st August 2010, 18:14

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIJLRbU-lDI

      Watch it from that point of view. Michael clearly has his car on one line down the straight, which Barrichello, as a racing driver, should have realised would have left little to no room to pass. There’s no onus on Michael to reposition his car on the track when another car is behind him in terms of track position. It’s not like he made some kind of deliberate move to put him in the wall, Barrichello made the decision to move to the inside, when you can clearly see not only that Michael was going right as well, but there was adequate room on the outside to pass as well.

      I think this was a dangerous move on Rubens’ part. It clearly isn’t a deliberate attempt on Schumacher’s part to put him into the wall, and Barrichello decided to try and pass him against the wall and kept his foot flat. As Martin Brundle said, Barrichello was either going to pass Schumacher or put them both in the wall. He very nearly did the latter.

    58. It was awesome to see Rubens showing the true (that hi is better than $chumacher without team orders and overtaking on the track, not on the pits)….I thought that $chumacher make a mistake before read his comments…. now im sure that was on purpose like he did in the past (Australia 94 for example)….by the way if he got 10 positions to back fernando “cagonso” deserve to start 24 for the team orders at Hockenheim!! (Thanks that i found this site, im sick about spanish sites likes thef1 who maximize what “cagonso” do and minimize what ohters do. Please, excusme my english is so rusty)

    59. This is motor racing folks, it’s a dangerous business, but none of the drivers are out there trying to “kill someone”.
      At the end of the day we saw two of the most experienced F1 drivers on the planet go wheel to wheel, without crashing, and provide an unforgetable moment. A moment which literally defines what motor racing is all about. If Senna was alive and watching the reaction to this, he’d probably think you’ve all gone a bit soft…

      1. Totally agree with that. Just wacth Indycar and see things like this on almost every circuit race! But, i think that if $chumacher after the race said “ok, i move to the incorrect line” or “i dind see/expect to see Rubens on that place” nobody say nothing but he stell saying that he was right! as a driver i can say that he move to the inner line to force RB go on the outside and mantain the position on the 1st curve, but he never should press to hard with the wall (after the wall is differnt). Anyway, $chumacher was never a fair-play driver, not must be compared with biggest drivers las Senna, Prost, Mansell, Villeneuve (father & Son), or so many others.

        Pd off topic: Such a boring race!!!! Boring circuit! (and like i said some days ago, “magically” Felipe´s cars was so slower that “cagonso´s” car.

      2. Couldn’t agree more

    60. Why say micheal did not give space ???…he closed the door at the pit wall and immediately after the wall he again moves to his left and gives one car space for rubens, thats when he grabbed the place. Pics says it all
      I wont blame him but both could ve done their manouver a bit more sanely.

      Irrespective of his position on track he gives his everything, not an ounce of space is left for taking.
      im proud of micheal.

    61. Good heavens, they didn’t even touch wheels…

      FIA stewards are going more and more pathetic each race.

      1. Yeah, you are exactly right.

        We should wait till marshalls are shovelling up broken body parts, then we can all stand around looking stupid, wondering how that happened, and why no-one did anything to prevent it.

        He should have been banjoed with a 3-race ban for that stunt, and it made clear on his return, if he even thought about pulling a stroke like that again, he’d end up on the wrong end of a right proper doing.

    62. #Vince
      Your post is not on the board yet, but is in my email.
      I TOTALLY agree with YOU. My eyes see what your eyes see.
      I would like to think it was a stupid move…but MS is not a stupid man. I therefore see it as a cold and calculating incident which is only saved by RB’s skill-
      A totally unnecessary risk of lives – in that I include spectators and officials.
      Take up go-karting MS. Or better still, surfboarding.

      #Tim
      The stewards are as pathetic as the lowest skilled driver requires them to be. In this case, MS. ‘How are the mighty fallen’.!

    63. Damn right dangerous. Schumi should be given a right old talking to. They were very lucky the pit wall finished where it did or else that could of been an horrendous accident.

    64. Now it’s not F1, but this reminds me a lot of the incident on the last corner of the last race in the 2009 American Le Mans Series season at Laguna Seca (video pretty easy to find on youtube if you’re curious)…

      Corvette #3 is trying to pass the #45 Flying Lizard Porsche for the last 5 or so laps, and gets by him but has to concede the position for using the pit lane exit for the overtake. Coming out the final corner, Jan Magnussen bumps Jorg Bergmeister hoping to move him aside and Bergmeister squeezes the Corvette towards the wall enough that the Vette hits an angle in the pit wall, spins into the opposite wall. Magnussen was injured in that incident (broken tailbone I think?) but pretty similar incident overall I would say.

      Thing is, Rubens probably knew he was taking a risk by attempting Schumacher the way he did. However, what I think he didn’t expect was how much Michael defended against him. I think there was no doubt in either of these guys’ heads that Michael would not just lie down and let him have the position, but the killer instinct of Schumi’s kicked in there and really, that was the move he committed to to defend against Rubens. It might have gone a little further than he intended, but since none of us were inside Schumacher’s head, that’s impossible to say.

      A bit of a dodgy move for sure, and Rubens has every right to be upset (a lesser man would’ve cracked easily in this situation I think…), but an all around cock up I’d say though Schumacher does have a fairly large share of fault in this.

    65. I used to support Micheal, but come on, accept it you’re too old and too slow for tricks like that. Accept it old boy and pack it it before you hurt someone and yourself.
      A ten point penalty was too soft, a minimum of a race ban or two would send hime the right message.
      He was the greatest and it’s sad to see him return in such a poor state. The saddest part is that Barrichello is now quicker and a better driver than Micheal.

      1. “He was the greatest and it’s sad to see him return in such a poor state. The saddest part is that Barrichello is now quicker and a better driver than Micheal.”

        I couldn´t agree more. It would be very interesting if Rubens stayed at Branw/Mercedes. Could he do a better job than Nico?

        1. I think Nico has been pretty impressive this season. But Rubens would be doing a better job than Schumacher for sure.

    66. I’ve got to be one of the biggest Schumacher fans for sure,
      But that move by Michael was wrong, There’s nothing more to it, and the penalty? harsh, but fair.

      Schumacher toes the line in his racing often, it’s why he was so good, because he pushes the boundaries, it’s inevitable that something will go wrong eventually though.

      So, the actual incident out of the way, I think I’d like to say how alarmed I am, at some peoples reactions…

      First, to mister David Coulthard, and those with similar views, There is no better way to be an ******** than say he should just pack it up, what a arrogant thing to say, yeah he stuffed up, but what he should do, is plod on, I like to think drivers are in F1 because they love it, so I really hope he keeps going. What a cheap dig at another human being because you don’t like him…

      (p.s. Also DC, the hypocrisy you show when you mention the negatives of the Rubens Schumacher Ferrari era is amazing, considering you were defending Alonso and Ferrari only one week ago…)

      The worst, absolute worst, Is the people trying to shift blame onto Rubens, are you out of your mind? Rubens didn’t do anything even slightly wrong, Yes he could have braked, but duh… he is a racing driver?

      Schumacher did wrong, but that doesn’t make him evil, a bit stupid perhaps, but evil I think not. But what he did was not fair, not good sportsmanship, and not good racing.

      But he doesn’t deserve to be crucified for it.
      (Ferrari have done far, far worse rather recently…)

    67. I’m really not surprised to see Schumacher pull that ridiculous move today. We’ve seen him try to take opponents and himself out on numerous occasions throughout his career. Since his comeback, Schumacher has been nothing been outclassed by his teammate, and made to look like a fool by half the drivers on the grid. I think his shattered ego, and driver instincts led him to almost take Rubens out.

      I’m wonder how low Schumacher could stoop to before he decides to throw in the towel.

      1. No and I am really not surprised that you were not commenting last weekend when your idol Alonso pulled a right fast one on Massa.
        Did you sleep through that?

        Reubens knows MSC,he knows how to goad him too,there is history there going back to the days of Senna.Senna would have pushed him right off the track,but the Racers were men then not cowards.

        1. Well I definitely wasn’t happy with the team orders that Ferrari issued last weekend. Nonetheless, when Alonso starts intentionally crashing into drivers like Schumacher does, I will lose all respect for him.

          I erally do not know how you are using Senna as an excuse for the ridiculous move Schumi made on Rubens yesterday. That move was stupid, dangerous and illegal, and nothing to do with ‘true racing’. If you think that racing is about putting other drivers in the wall, you need to get your head checked.

    68. Schumacher is an idiot,he deserves a race ban 1 or 2 races.He should have stayed away from F1 and given other drivers a chance.Bruno Senna should replace him then the Mercedes GP Team would be right up there.

      Robert

      1. You think Bruno would have the team “right up there”?

        No offence dude, but I don’t think you thought that out.

        Even if Senna, a rookie, could out perform Schumacher, which I think on the face of it is unlikely.

        Do you actually think he’d get even close to Rosberg? And consider that Rosberg isn’t, “right up there” either is he?

        1. Heidfeld, Sutil and Kobayashi would all be better candidates than Bruno Senna. But Schumi should be sacked for sure.

    69. Michael’s lucky to get away with this one – at the very least he ought have got a suspended ban. Irvine tried something similar in 1994 and caused a nasty 4-car accident where Verstappen was lauched up into the air over Brundle’s McLaren.

      He got banned for it despite the fact he was unsighted by a backmarker – Michael didn’t have any such complications in this case.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAnpQvu794o

      Michael can get away with quite a few of his moves but that one was a step too far.

    70. i’m wondering what is going on in Ross Brawns head tonight?not what he would have said to the press or to schumi but what his thoughts are when he is alone in the hotel room…
      what a terrible race for him today. he had schumi an barricello together for 6 years at ferrari, than raced again with baricello last year and now with schumi…

      one thing is for sure: i’m not a schumi fan from this day on.pretty dissapointing!

      keith could you pls make a poll just like the one from barricello? here on your site.

    71. To be honest, I missed the live broadcast of the race.

      When I read comments on this site, without seeing the incident itself, I first thought people were overreacting for no reason, just as it was with Massa in Montreal.

      But upon watching this episode several times, I agree Michael’s move was dangerous.

      I don’t think it was intentional though. What happened is that Michael moved to the middle of the track and was watching Rubens’ moves. He could not move further to the pit wall because that would mean Rubens will have a chance to pass him on the outside. So he wanted to make a move inside when he knew Rubens was about to overtake.

      However, Rubens understood pretty well what Michael was going to do. Therefore, he wanted to delay his move as much as possible to get a max speed advantage, and then to move as swiftly as possible – before Michael can shut the door.

      It worked well for Rubens, so when Michael started closing the door, they had almost equalized, so instead of keeping Rubens behind, he almost drove into him.

      So it was dangerous indeed, but it happened so because both were pushing to the limit. Had something like this happened in IndyCar, nobody would bother, but in F1 tradition, it was too much, so a penalty for Schumacher wouldn’t be unreasonable.

      It was probably harsh though, considering especially that Michael was already penalized for nothing in Monaco, and that Lewis was only “warned” for a clear violation of rules in Malaysia, which was no less dangerous than Michael’s move today, even if it may not appear so (but it was, this is open-wheeled racing!).

      What I don’t understand is why Rubens is trying to make it personal.

    72. After this Schumacher should be ban from driving this year. He had litle to win or fight for and his move could result in a very very owful accident. There is no excuse for pushing a pilot to the wall at 300 km per hour.

    73. pro schumi. there was space enough. whiny rubens is a pain, by the way.

      1. Oh yes, plenty of room on the grass. Or do you mean those 2 centimeters that were left between the wall and Barrichello’s Williams? He was turning right even when they passed the wall in attempt to intimidate Barrichello…

    74. Check out this Q&A with Barrichello about the incident that is shedding even more light. I haven’t noticed for example that Schumacher was during the move watching at the Barrichello’s wheel – he wasn’t holding a line, he was trying to push him away from the track.
      If stuff like that happened somewhere else on the track where there is a run-off area it wouldn’t cause such an uproar. But racing 300 km/h and doing such a reckless move is beyond belief.

      http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/85815

    75. I must admit, I found the whole thing great to watch. I am glad nothing bad happened to Rubens, or that there was not a car coming out of the pits at the time unsighted.
      From Schumacher’s point of view he had the final points paying position to protect, in a race that had already seen off his team mate Nico Rosberg. As Mercedes GP’s only driver in the grands prix, Michael was never going to make it easy and especially for Barrichello of all people. The point here is quite clear. There has to be a point where defending a position is clearly pointless, and Michael crossed the line as Rubens was clearly coming by yet Michael continued to block. Fair play to Rubens for keeping his foot in and having the balls to make the move, but it was a potentially disastrous incident due to a driver’s frustrations at not being as competitive as he thought he was going to be.

    76. 10 grid position drop, what’s the point Schui will be back there after 1 lap at Spa anyway. Heidfeld should be given the drive at Spa but they probably don’t want to show that Heidfeld could punt the Merc GP around the track quicker than Michael.

    77. One thing i forgot to say: If $chumacher make this move on another circuit with low speed like Valencia or some place at Montecarlo it will be fine because the speed is too slow than today and maybe the consecuences of a crash too.

      1. Yeah, so very true Pablo. Because nothing like that didn’t happen with Webber and Hekki on a slow circuit like Valencia did it? /sarcasm

        1. That´s different! Webber was behind Kova and m$ and RB was side by side, it happen so many times at Indy (for example) and nothing bad happens (i men, nobody´s hurt).

          1. men=mean

            For example, 2 cars side by side touch on the straight to “Montecarlo Hotel curve” or in Tabauc curve.

          2. It’s not much different actually. They’ve said if there was a longer pit wall there would of been a car taking off. It’s 190 MPH down that straight, not really slow…

            The only other time I’ve seen anything similar to this was Mark Webber hitting into the side of Rubens in the start of Germany 2009, and that’s at a relative 120 mph.

            How long have you been watching Indy? I remember late 90’s a driver died similar fashion, after his car hit side on, took off and hit the fencing also killing a marshal.

            Simply look up Kenny Brack for another example of that happening although he survived it put him out of racing for a long time. It has happened a lot recently in indy, Mark Conway was the latest.

    78. THIS IS THE OVERTAKE OF THE YEAR & IT CAN ONLY BE DONE BY RUBENS, THE GREATEST OF THEM ALL. HE WAS ALWAYS A BETTER DRIVER THAN SHUMACHER. GO RUBENS!!!!

      1. Can you not post in all capitals please? Thanks.

        1. My eyes bleed :(

    79. Eddie jordan was right about this subject, that the FIA need to get ontop of this kind of problem before the drivers are not so lucky the next time round. They are likely to injure themselves and most important kill other people doing this kind of stunt again.

      Marshals and medical crew put their trust into the drivers to drive like a driver, NOT to put them into harms way. These marshals don’t get paid to have cars pushed towards them by stupid moves…

      Michael didn’t think what he was doing and became selfish, he didn’t think for those couple of seconds what a worse case senario it could of been. Rubens could of flipped like webber and could of gone straight over the fence, died and taken plenty with him.

      1. … yeah… But the amount of times people “could” have died in F1 is huge.

        Or have you already forgotten that wheel making it’s bid for freedom during the pit stops?

        Rubens obviously didn’t think what the worst result could have been either, I mean, they were racing.

        1. That wheel was a different story… The guy putting the wheel on made a mistake, and it was just a (human error, gun failure)

          Schumi on the other hand looked into his right mirror, saw rubens coming and tried to drive him into the pit wall when rubens tried to overtake him.

          I think you need to understand the difference of “mistake” and “intentional” because thats not racing thats being stupid on schumi’s part.
          Mistakes can’t be avoided because we have no control of them. Intentional stunts like schumi did can be avoided since schumi was the one going to cause it.

          Rubens got one over schumi in that split second and he didn’t like it.

    80. What Schumacher did was extremely dangerous and stupid, and I think the punishment is welcome.
      But 10-place grid drop? Now? What difference it will make in Schumacher´s season, anyway?

    81. Rubbish headline Keith. Borderline defending it may be but there was no “swerve”.

      1. The definitions for ‘swerve’ include ‘divergence from course’. Given that Schumacher appeared to stop moving right, then only resumed when Barrichello moved alongside him, I think it’s fine. Perhaps ‘squeeze’ would be less ambiguous for some but I think it would be too soft a descriptor.

        1. Fair enough, if thats what happened in your opinion. To me it looked like he held his line, therefore I felt ‘swerve’ is bit much. To most I think swerve means a rapid change of direction, which this was not.

          IMHO tho, MSC being in front, had the perogative to choose his line which he stuck to – similar to Webber at Istanbul. It up to the driver behind to choose which side to go and if the space is closing, back off if required. Well done to Rubens tho for having the nads to make it stick!

          The thing I can’t stand however is Ruben moaning about MSC closing the door late. I mean come on, its called defensive driving, racing actually, stick a half hearted move up the inside, prepared to get your nose cut off!

          It seems the footballer, pansy mentality is creeping into F1 too.

          ps. I don’t want to see anyone hurt – this incident was too close, but both drivers were at fault.

          1. The reason why it’s becoming “footballer, pansy mentality” is because of all the new little boys and girls watching their favorite young driver, and the FIA don’t need them dead on Live TV.

            Why do you think F1 has expanded over the last couple of years? (Child friendly = more money for Bernie)

            Old school F1 geeks dont spend much money on the new gear at circuits, snotty kids who keep screaming for a Lewis hamilton hat do.

    82. This just about sums up Scumacher as a driver. nothing has changed except his car isn’t the fastest or the most reliable. 10 spot grid penalty is hardly a harsh penalty when he’s qualifying 14th half the time. Totally agree one or two race ban and yes what Vettel was trying to do to Webber in Britain & Alonso in Germany was the same mentality although from a start & not at the speed Schumacher was trying to put Barrichello into the wall. Shame, shame, shame. somethings just never change with Schumacher.

    83. The move of a petty former WDC not wanting to get passed by a former vassel team mate. If Rubens had half a brain he’d visit Schumi and punch out his lights, mano a mano.

      The stewards should have banned him from the next race, let them try and appeal the decision.

      Teach Vettel and other young (and not so young) drivers who have adopted the Schumi Swerve an abject lesson on the penalties for dangerous driving.

    84. common guy this is racing, there is more dangerous out there than race track, with michael whetar you love it or hate it and for me michael on race track is very commited and preditcable and race hard even with his brother

    85. Schumacher driving a two year old Honda painted silver is just fun to see, but does he really think he will ever win the Championship again? I mean almost everyone on the grid is a better driver than him now, and Mercedes has done nothing but painted a car others had designed, that doesn’t sound like a winning package to me!

    86. why is there such an outcry?

      Webber – Massa Fuji 2008?
      Webber – Alonso Barcelona 2009?

      These where as bad as this one! Racing is racing!

    87. More thoughts from both of them.

      http://www.espnstar.com/motorsport/f1/news/detail/item476681/%22Schumi-is-living-dangerously!%22/

      I think that move was awesome from Barrichello & the best of the season & one of the best in my life. Schumacher should deserve that penalty sometimes he does cross the limit & but this time it was too much. I liked what Barricheelo said after the race
      “If he wants to go to heaven – in the event he is going to heaven – I don’t want to go before him”

    88. CapeFear, for example last week at….some airport on Canada Sato and another driver crash side by side but at slow speed. I think that you are talking about Jeff Krosnoff crash at Vancouver or Toronto. At high speed is dangeours but imagine a crash at low speed in a situation like m$ and RB had today, maybe at 100km/h or less (for example, last corner of Adelaida (60/70km/h).

      1. Pd: I watch F1 since Japan 91 and Indy since 93 (Lost a few years of Indy when ESPN stop transmiting CART/INDY in the last 5 years, but now im back)

      2. I agree with you 100% that at slow speed it wouldn’t be so bad. But in this instance RB and MS are traveling at an estimated 150 MPH and that is where my opinion differ with yours.

        My point is, we’ve seen what happens at high speed in not just F1 but other categories of motorsport such as indy car. It’s not worth the heart ache and loss of life for something which could be preventable with common sense and sportsmanship.

        I’m afraid MS was in the wrong taking into consideration every thing such as him looking in his mirrors pushing RB so far off the track, you can’t do that. Hence why he got a penalty.

    89. The fact remains that Schumi could have cause a huge accident, but it didnt warrant a penalty!!

      Im not a Schumacher fan, never have been, but I think it a bit harsh.

      This is between Ruebans and Michael, they have just had a chat about it afterwards and shook it off over a beer or something.

      F1 has become way too political, aggresive moves on track that are not necessarily sporting have been bitched about too much by the parties involved. I guess its their ultra competitive nature, they just aint a bunch of blokes I suppose.

    90. 235 responses so far. It is a record Keith?

    91. I would also like a Belgian GP suspension for Schumacher.

      At least Mercedes would have a much lesser paid underperformer to trot behind Rosberg then.

    92. Check this out:
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRv0AfpIANo&NR=1

      I get it that MSC had slowly started to drift to the right but Rubens had made his move at pretty much the same time. Once he was alongside MSC should have stopped moving over. He carried on squeezing.

      I watch F1 for the excitement of skilled overtaking. I don’t watch F1 to see someone killed – if everyone did these sorts of moves every race not all of the driver would make it to the end of the season alive. As usual MSC has taken it too far. Once a cheat, always a cheat. I think his come back has done him terrible damage – not so much from his lack of speed (which i think we all expected anyway) but from his on track antics. They were “excused” when he was winning – he aint winning any more.

      1. Things could still have been worst imagine someone coming out of the pit lane at that very moment!!

    93. I don’t think it was anything personal towards Rubens as we have seen many times this year that Michael always makes it very difficult to pass him and you really do have to be prepared to do a little off road driving to take the place away from him in some cases.. I wouldn’t expect to see any different from him in future so it’s really up to the stewards to take him aside and show him where the line in the sand is and enforce that view.. From my understanding it is agreed between the drivers you may may one blocking move so technically I think Michael has a defence here.. Hard but fair..

      1. ” Hard but fair”

        But deadly.

    94. Schumacher is making a fool of himself.
      He is now definitely EX – world champion material.
      Michael – you’re a loser, get out of F1 before you kill someone; you’ve already made a complete tit of yourself.

    95. 3 Words…..

      Berk in a Merc

    96. Christopher Vissing
      2nd August 2010, 10:47

      It’s nice to see some longer deep thought comments, instead of the most of you who are just rubbish.. Whinny basterds I would say :-)

      Rubens is overreacting a little bit, and anything bigger than a 10-place grid penalty would be wrong.. This is racing.. And according to the rules he didn’t do anything wrong

    97. The biggest , if there is any “shame” in this incident , is that the FIA deals out yet another penalty which is in conflict with it’s own rules. If Schumi had weaved across Rubens’ path , they could have looked at a penalty , but all he did was kept his line. Sure , most other drivers would have backed off , but then again most other drivers do not have even one world championship , let alone seven. Rubens drove superbly to get through with such a small gap to spare , but instead of savouring what could be the best overtake of the year , he whines yet again ……. maybe HE needs to retire to an armchair next year and watch how an eighth title is won.

      1. What rubbish!! I bet a majority of the other drivers would ‘whine’ if that happened to them. They would be completely justified to do so as well seeings that it was by pure fluke that there wasnt contact.

      2. Kept his line???? What incident were you watching? He kept squeezing Rubens down to within mere inches of contact.

        If Rubens wanted to emphasize the severity of his concern over the incident, he should have done a Senna on Schumi; Taken him behind the haulers and kicked his butt to within an inch of his miserable life.

        Wouldn’t happen again, I’d wager.

    98. paul sainsbury
      2nd August 2010, 12:00

      Yeah, like That’s gonna happen…………..

    99. I think Schumacher is a very lucky man that the pitlane wall finished where it did and that Rubens got to yank right into the pit exit. Another second or 2 of that squeezing into the wall tactics could of had huge consequences. 10 place grid drop for something that was damnright dangerous!! Bit of a let off i say.

    100. OK all,

      To summ it up, “Schumi”, while being a good driver always had a phsycological mallfunction in his head. The evident fact of going to be beat in a race, while he still thinks he is “the one” makes his brains go crazy and do stupid things. There is evidence over all those years. He is not the best at all any more, even Rosberg in the same car outclasses him al over this season, which becomes such a frustration that he gets mental. This is top sport not bang my opponents of the track. It requires sportsman with a healthy mind, which Schumi isn’t, he gets more frustrated which makes him even more dangerous. His reaction has always been, that “the other guy was wrong”. He once crashed in the back of a truck while exiting the motorway with to high speed, his reaction? “the truck was breaking very early for the traffic light at the end of the exit”, typical….

      Mr. Marshalls, there is only one justified action, take of the racing license. Be brave and stop defending past time heroes and favarid racing teams. Put him 10 places back on the grid is not effective, it won’t change his mental state.

      And for Ros Brown, sorry mate, you made a VERY BIG judgement error, now deal with it. Rosberg was on his way to a very high score in 2010 championship, listening to “Schumi”, rokceted you back to the middle of the road. A Manager should act differently and take action, not cry with the fool on the hill “Schumi”.

      A F1 and racing fan

    101. I’m amazed at the number of people (admittedly in the minority) saying MS did nothing wrong. He was fully aware of where RB was and by continuing to move to the right, pushed RB completely off the track (the white line denotes the track remember, not the wall) and to within a few inches of the pit wall end. All at full speed (190mph?). A harsh (but fair imho) move would have been to push him to the white line. He went beyond that and put his own life and RB’s life at much greater risk, not to mention that fact that another car could have been exiting the pit lane at that point.

      A grid penalty seem a lenient penalty for such an action, considering similar penalties are given when a driver causes ‘an avoidable accident’ – MS did not cause an accident this time, but the magnitude of the accident that could have happened (thanks just as much to luck as skill that it didn’t) was enormous and had to be considered. MS was thrown completely out a the championship in 97 when he drove into JV, and the danger involved in that incident was far less imho. Considering the Hungary incident was just as deliberate and considerably more dangerous, I think MS has got off very lightly. The fact that a championship was at stake in 97 and wasn’t here should not be considered before the danger inherent in the moves – F1 drivers are the example that lower formula drivers aspire to, the message should be the dangerous driving is not permitted in any situation.

      1. This image shows that RB crossed the line when starting his overtaking manoeuvre:
        [IMG]http://i26.tinypic.com/oh7kzo.jpg[/IMG]

        At that point he should lift off.

          1. That doesnt prove anything, that wasnt the start of the overtake.

            1. RB is halfway alongside at that point. As he did begin the move he probably was at the line and therefore had a car width to use but from then on MS continued his push over – with full knowledge of his and RB’s position.

        1. You seem to have some trouble finding the right frame.

          Here is a frame showing the gap that Barichello is going for. Schumacher is not blocking the line on his right side (as he claims), but he’s in the middle of the track waiting for Barichello to make his move (as the stewards and Barichello claim):
          http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4102/4854309118_48348feb53.jpg

          Then he quickly starts squeezing, but Barichello makes his way well side by side with Schumacher before he’s over the line:
          http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4143/4854308870_4324892a7e.jpg

      2. I’m so sorry, but why doesn’t anyone consider the possibility of RB breaking? Why do you take it as a given that either Schuey should’ve given up his line OR (as he didn’t) he made a wrong move. IMHO, and as some people have expressed it already, Schuey was simply changing his line (once!) and stayed there. OK, RB did end up dangerously close to the wall, but he always had the possibility to break and back off. Which he didn’t. So what’s all the fuzz about?

        1. here is a video of it.
          dont know how long they will leave it up i removed the audio from it so hopefully they will.

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5vXTSqTeEs

        2. “He always had the possibility to break and back off” Yes, he did and Schumacher always had the possibility to not squeeze Barrichello so dangerously close to the wall. If Schumacher squeezed Barrichello to a lesser extent it wouldn’t have been as bad – just seen as defending his position in a more courteous way. Just because Barrichello didn’t back off at that point, it doesn’t mean Schumacher gets the right to do what he did, whether by accident or not. Schu changed his line and should have stayed there. One move which is acceptable, but to then continue and do what he did is reckless and obviously viewed as wrong by the stewards.

    102. How about a poll for fans to decide if Michaels move was fair, unfair, or dubious etc…

    103. Dangerous move? Yes, F1 is dangerous. Should Webber have got a penalty for climbing on Kovalainen? Should F1 be banned after a mass collision? It could happen at the start of every race.

      Unsportmanship? Yes. I wouldn’t do that, but maybe that’s one of the reasons I’m not in F1. If you want good sportmanship, find another sport or another planet. It’s sad but true: there’s controversy in every sport at the highest level. That’s why we need so many rules.

      Lucky to be alive? He could say that after every race. The cars didn’t touch. The wall ended exactly there on the previous lap and all weekend. The room was there, but the margin of error was too little.

      Tried to kill him? I’m not sure if he could do it, but he would have tried some other way. For example at the driver’s breefing.

      Another Schumacher fan? Yes. I admire(d) him not for his sportsmanship but for his skill, determination and especially for the ability to win in an inferior car.

      1. Stop deflecting the issue. It isn’t about whether F1 is generally dangerous or not. Or sportsmanship. It’s about this rule:

        “Manoeuvres liable to hinder other drivers, such as more than one change of direction to defend a position, deliberate crowding of a car beyond the edge of the track or any other abnormal change of direction, are strictly prohibited”

        He broke the rule, blatantly, against “deliberate crowding of a car beyond the edge of the track”. That’s why he got a penalty, which was actually leniently applied, given how close it came to disaster and the options open to the stewards. This has exactly nothing to do with Webber hitting Kovalainen, bad sportsmanship, mass collisions or anything else. You’re just adding to a pile of excuses which have no bearing on why he got a penalty. These have included the ad hominem (Rubens is a whiner/ a wimp/ a non-WDC), the irrelevant (Senna did bad things too/ F1 is dangerous/ it was only one move) and the plain false (Rubens should have gone left/ they raced this hard in the 70s and 80s/ Webber did the same thing to Massa).

        Also irrelevant to the case is your personal admiration for Schumacher’s ability to win in inferior cars in the past. I can’t think why you’d mention that other than to somehow imply mitigating circumstances or some kind of entitlement. It might be relevant if he had just won the Hungarian GP in his inferior Mercedes. But he lost the fight with RB, was lapped, scored no points and was hammered on pace, yet again, by his team mate. Therefore, if there is a broader context than simply whether a rule was broken, it is that these are the actions of an increasingly sad, discredited and desperate man.

        1. Well said Sean. People should try to stick to the facts.

    104. He didn’t change at all, his attitude to dirty tricks on the truck are still there, he shouldn’t be allowed to drive any more GP, he is danger, so he’s better go retire. Bye bye Shumi.

      1. Hmm, now that’s gonna be more than a little awkward, no?
        The loud apologist minority that have just spent the last 24 hours arguing, telling the rest of us to ignore the evidence of our lying eyes, and defiant that there was nothing to be concerned about in that low-class stunt.

        Now left high and dry, looking and feeling more than a little foolish, that’s surely going to sting just a bit.

        I’ll tel you what was worse than blinkered fans. Watching supposed stand-up guys like Haug and Brawn, trying and failing to defend the indefensible right to our faces … well it’s clear to us all now, when push comes to shove that Schumacher can’t change his spots.
        Watching them cheaply selling their self-respect defending this character really was tragic stuff.

        1. Couldn’t agree more. And it’s worrying that Haug and Brawn did that only a week after every Ferrari employee that had a mic stuck under their nose lied through their teeth about the team orders incident. Another example of the top tier in F1 thinking the fans are idiots. If ever F1 needed a dose of clean racing and honesty (after Spygate, Crashgate etc) it was this season. Maybe it was too much to hope for :(

    105. MSC up to his old tricks. Can’t help wondering: German driver, German team – was he just following (team?) orders?

    106. Schumi eats babies

    107. Schumi’s brains started to become normal again, first accusing Rubens to be to trouble maker, now he has apologized.
      Sean, your spot on.

    108. Schumacher should be banned from at least one race and incur a large fine. His poor sportsmanship brings F1 and the racing community into disrepute. It’s hard to believe he’s a road safety advocate. More like a New York cab driver or speedway driver. Either way he’s not F1 material anymore. He’s done well, lots of records, lot’s of trophies, however he should go home before he kills someone.

    109. I don’t understand why everybody is criticizing Shumi. I don’t see there’s any life threatening situation here. You know RB was not dead nor hit by his own spring, so he will brake if he has to. I don’t believe racing drivers are so crazy that they don’t have basic instinct to save own life. On the contrary to most people, I think it is RB who made the situation tight. Why was he so crazy and committed to pass Shumi there? Why he could not give up there and try to do the pass else where? In my opinion, the one who is truly out of mind at that moment not Shumi but RB is.If he died there, I consider it his suicide.

      1. You gotta be kidding!!!

      2. David Kirkham
        4th August 2010, 22:33

        Clearly it was dangerous driving everyone agrees, the stewards, Rubens, even Shumi agrees, he didn’t hold a line he pushed him into the wall. What if someone was coming out of the pits?

        If overtaking him becomes a suicide mission it’s time for him to go. He’s got a “either I win or we both die attitude” it’s unsportsmanlike, unprofessional and it’s not the first time we’ve seen it.

        1. Well said David.

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