Michael Schumacher goes too far with dangerous move
We thought he might have changed, but Michael Schumacher is still the ruthless and controversial driver he was when he retired from Formula One back in 2006.
During last Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix, Schumacher almost forced former teammate Rubens Barrichello into the wall at nearly 200mph when he tried to overtake him. Barrichello luckily found a way through, and after the race he said: “If he [Schumacher] wants to go to heaven - in the event he is going to heaven - I don't want to go before him. Thank God I was lucky the wall finished where it did because I was millimetres from it.”
While some drivers are well-known for their driving styles and abilities, Schumacher is well-known for running fellow drivers off the track.
In 1994 at the Australian Grand Prix, the last race of the season, Schumacher ran into the side of Damon Hill to deny the Briton the world championship. Schumacher was leading by a point, and when he made a mistake, he stopped Hill from getting past. Hill later retired, and Schumacher was world champion.
In 1997 at Jerez, also the last race of the season, Schumacher once again tried this move, this time on Jacques Villeneuve. Schumacher led Villeneuve by a point, and when Villeneuve attempted a move, Schumacher turned into him, but unlike Hill, Villeneuve was able to continue and clinched the world title, while Schumacher retired.
Although Schumacher has nothing to play for this season with Mercedes-Benz GP, thoughts of these two incidents come flooding back, and he still has the knack for a controversial scrap.
The seven-time world champion was given a 10-place grid penalty for the next grand prix for his manoeuvre on Barrichello in Budapest, and he admits he “crossed the line with the move.”
“I have got to say that the stewards are right with their judgment. The manoeuvre against him was too severe. Right after the race I was still in the heat of the moment, but after I watched the scene with Rubens again, I must say that the stewards were right in their assessment, the manoeuvre against him was too hard.
“Of course I wanted to make it difficult for him to overtake and I showed him clearly that I didn’t want to let him down the inside, but I wasn’t trying to endanger him with my manoeuvre. If he felt that way, then sorry, that was not my intention,” said Schumacher.
Former Formula One driver Derek Warwick was part of the stewarding panel at the Hungarian Grand Prix, and he wanted to disqualify Schumacher for the outrageous move.
“I believe we had three laps to disqualify him from Budapest, and throwing a black flag would have shown a better example to our young drivers that we will not tolerate that kind of driving,” he said.
“You have to view the evidence you have and you could disqualify him from the next grand prix, or two grands prix. But we felt a 10-place penalty is a big penalty to carry for Spa [next grand prix]. It kind of puts him out of the race at Spa, and hopefully he will learn from that and remember that the new stewards will not tolerate that driving,” said Warwick.
Schumacher has not has the best season so far since he came out of retirement, collecting only 38 points and lying ninth in the drivers’ standings.
He may not have the speed anymore, which is mainly down to the poor performance of his car, but he still hasn’t lost the ability to controversially push the boundaries.
Some things just don’t change.
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