/ 6 August 2006

Schumacher fumes over time penalty

Michael Schumacher was left seething at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Saturday after being hit with a time penalty that wrecked his chances of claiming pole position.

The 37-year-old German, seven-times winner of the drivers’ world championship, was given his two-second punishment earlier on Saturday for overtaking while red flags were waved during free practice.

The stewards’ decision meant he was given an identical penalty to that meted out to championship-leading Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Renault, who was penalised two seconds in qualifying for hand gesticulations, brake-testing and passing cars under yellow flags on Friday.

If Schumacher had not been penalised, his fastest lap time of one minute and 18,875 seconds would have carried him forward into the final part of qualifying and he would probably have taken pole position.

Instead, that went to Finn Kimi Raikkonen of McLaren Mercedes-Benz ahead of Brazilian Felipe Massa in the second Ferrari, while Alonso will start 15th and face a struggle to reach the leading group.

”I was angry at the decision, but I don’t want to say much about it. You can see for yourself what happened from the television,” said Schumacher. ”I don’t want to give any kind of long explanation about what happened in the morning.

”I blame myself partly for what did happen, but I didn’t expect this kind of penalty. Everyone can form their own conclusions. I think 11th place on the grid is as good as I could have hoped for in the circumstances.

”At least it means I will start from the clean side of the track. It gives me a chance to make a good start and move up a few places, and then we can see,” he said.

Ferrari team chief Jean Todt was pleased with his drivers’ efforts.

”It is clear that the Ferrari package is very competitive, but Michael’s penalty for what happened in this morning’s free practice session made it more or less impossible for him to get through to the final part of the qualifying,” he said.

”Thanks to some fantastic laps, Michael did the best he could. I don’t want to comment on the stewards’ decision — everyone can draw their own conclusions.” — Sapa-AFP