However, as always, it's his team that keeps supporting the German driver following the Hungarian GP scandal, at the end of which Schu escaped only with a 10-place grid penalty for the upcoming race at Spa-Francorchamps.
“Michael has apologised and accepted his penalty. It should now be accepted from everyone else and a final line be drawn under this topic,” urged Mercedes-Benz competition boss Norbert Haug, according to Der Tagespiegel.
Obviously, he was referring to the heavily criticizing reports in Italy and Spain over this past few days, as well as the comments of several former F1 racers, who looked with disgust at Schumacher's maneuver. At over 300kph, Barrichello was close to being crushed into the wall by his former Ferrari teammate, while trying to overtake him on the inside.
“He's a seven time world champion, he knew exactly what he was doing, he did it absolutely deliberately. A collision could have been fatal,” said former F1 racer Alexander Wurz after the Sunday action.
“I still have shivers after watching that move. It was unnecessary and very dangerous,” added Ferrari's test driver Marc Gene, while triple world champion Jackie Stewart hit the German ace hard: “It was one of the most blatant abuses of another driver that I have seen. It is a terrible example from a man who has seven world titles – bully-boy tactics.”
“He's a proud man and didn't want to be overtaken but he reverted to an ugly animal instinct,” said former GP driver John Watson.
This is not the first time Schumacher resorts to such moves, as his past speaks for itself in that direction. Back in 1995, such a maneuver on Damon Hill brought him a world title, while in 1997, in the season finale at Jerez, he tried to take title rival Jacques Villeneuve out of the race when the Canadian tried to overtake him. Back then, the FIA was more drastic on Schu, depriving him of all the championship points he had scored that season.
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