Schumacher Punished For Alonso Pass
- Published on May 16th, 2010 by Jack LamureSome guys just can't help but court controversy.
Especially not Michael Schumacher, who has been given a 20 second penalty for his final corner move on Fernando Alonso in today's Monaco Grand Prix, dropping the 7 times champion to 12th position.
As the Safety car pulled in on the final lap Schumacher dived up the inside of Alonso's Ferrari, nabbing 6th position from the Spaniard. Schumacher and his Mercedes team were under the impression that having crossed the safety car line, and with the green flag lights on, Michael was entitled to pass Alonso- but the stewards have seen it differently.
The rules state that if the race ends behind the safety car it will enter the pits at the end of the last lap and the cars will cross the finish line without overtaking. With that in mind it seems a pretty open and shut case- Michael had to be penalised. However the fact that green flags were shown confuses the matter. At the last race to finish behind a safety car- the 2009 Australian Grand Prix- yellow flags were still out as the cars crossed the line.
The penalty drops him out of the points, gives Alonso back the 6th position he'd held until the final turn, and bumps Nico Rosberg, Adrian Sutil and Tonio Liuzzi up a place. 11th placed finisher Sebastien Buemi is promoted to 10th, thereby scoring his first point of 2010.
Controvery? Michael Schumacher? At Monaco!? We never thought we'd see such a thing. It was a crafty move by Michael, and showed he's still very much on the ball, but ultimately it's cost him dear.
Got an opinion on Michael's pass or his penalty? Get involved and let us know.
LAT/Autosport
Comments and Discussion
Absolute rubbish! It just goes to show that Ferrari are still absolutely gutted about losing Schumi.
Regulations shouldn't have interpretations... and I hope Damon Hill managed to remain impartial...
But...the race didn't end under the safety car as it has gone into the pits leaving the cars to floor it to the chequered flag. Why bother with the safety car for that final lap at all and just declare Webber the winner on lap whatever it was?!
Rubbish.
never thought i'd defend schumacher but the green flags were out which means normal racing conditions. why bother with the green flags if overtaking isnt allowed?
i thought there was a new rule allowing passing after the safety car line? like when hamilton slammed webber off the road in china but it was okay to pass because it was past the safety car line?
It's to do with being the end of the race, as Jimmy said in his piece.
The only thread Mercedes have to cling onto were the green flags being shown on the final corner which does suggest that racing was underway and it wasn't a safety car finish. But that was probably a marshall or track offical's error and won't be enough for Mercedes to win their appeal.
They should drop the appeal, because if by the small chance they do win, then they take points away from Nico. The more they try to help Schumacher, the further back Rosberg slips in the championship.
Sorry Ross, the bendy tape measure might have made the barge boards legal again but this time
a) your car is not red
b) the rule is specific for the last lap & you read it wrong
It's a harsh penalty & they need to look at putting something in the rules that allows them to put a driver back by a single place rather than apply a time penalty.
If there was one green flag it could be open to a marshalling error. But weren't all the SC boards also removed from the sides of the track?
The fairest thing to do would be to give Alonso his place back, but also NOT penalise Schumacher. If the rules are unclear then benefit of doubt would come into play I think.
Absolutely ridiculous. If the green flags were out, then the racing's on, regardless of the rulebook. Drivers can't be expected to recite the rulebook when presented with such an obvious visual que as a green flag; what they can plainly see in front of them takes precedent when assessing a situation and making split-second decisions. Excellent move by Schumacher; another embarassingly silly move by the FIA (Ferrari International Assistance).
yeah true that, cause it's the last lap, i missed that bit.
but i doubt that rosberg or schumacher has a real shot at the title this year. he's not that far back, but the mercedes isnt looking too fast at the moment. although they have got ross brawn, so theres always hope...
There is even talk of some bias - Damon Hill was the advisor to the stewards for Monaco and we all know how well him and Michael get on!
He's said he acted fairly and accurately, which is fair enough but has admitted he's received some stinging emails too!!
Just to add to the controversy, looking at the FIA Media Centre website, Mark Webber was caught speeding in the pit lane during the race. Now looking at the regulations there is no set penalty for this, but surely by past decisions, he should get a drive-through penalty right? http://www.fia.com/en-GB/mediacentre/f1_media/Documents/mco-document-33.pdf
Also as has already been said, the green flags and lights were clearly out! Either the regulation is not clear enough, or it has been applied incorrectly. "40.13 If the race ends whilst the safety car is deployed it will enter the pit lane at the end of the last lap and the cars will take the chequered flag as normal without overtaking." The race was not ended under the safety car as the track was announced clear, safety car in this lap was displayed, and green flags were out. Surely Yellow Flags and SC boards should still have been on display?
Just my two pennys
My problem is the magnitude of the penalty - hardly fair to drop him 25 seconds when the field was bunched up behind the safety car. Why not just switch the places back?
All of this could have been avoided if they had simply crossed the line behind a safety car anyways...
Mark's pit lane speeding offence was before the race, on the way to the grid. So a fine is a appropriate. If it was during the race he would have been given a drive-through penalty.
Although formally, that is still part of the "race session" (and the document above does say race).
It might not be fair, but it is funny...
It's all about having a good photo of the finish, isn't it? They don't want footage of the drivers finishing behind the safety car at F1's most famous race beamed across the globe.
Surely if they wanted a good photo of the finish, they would allow racing for the last few hundred yards?