Rubens Barrichello steers clear of trouble
Rubens Barrichello has Michael Schumacher to thank after avoiding a penalty at last Sunday’s Formula One Monaco Grand Prix for throwing his steering wheel out of his car.
Barrichello crashed out of the race climbing the hill towards Casino. He threw his piece of equipment, worth £17,000, out of his WillamsF1 car and on to the track when getting out. Hispania’s Karun Chandhok collected the wheel on his car and carried it further down the track. Barrichello avoided incurring a penalty from the sport’s governing body, the FIA, as they were side-tracked by Schumacher’s illegal overtake on Fernando Alonso on the final lap of the race.
“I actually had Barrichello on my list but in the rush to sort out the Schumacher case the incident fell by the wayside. Luck was on Mr Barrichello's side,” said Paul Gutjahr, one of the stewards on the FIA panel.
During his time at Ferrari, the Brazilian played second fiddle to Schumacher, following team orders to let the seven-time world champion collect the maximum rewards. This caused controversy, as Barrichello was forced to let Schumacher through after leading for the majority of the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix.
Barrichello felt the need to throw the steering wheel out of the car in order to get out quickly. “I threw the steering wheel because I wanted to get out of the car as soon as possible. After the shunt I was facing the wrong side of the track and the car was on fire.”
Schumacher’s 20-second penalty demoted him to 12th from sixth, and all eyes were on that incident.
For once Barrichello was happy to take the back seat as Schumacher’s antics helped him steer clear of trouble.
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