Schumacher Handed Penalty for Alonso Pass

Fernando Alonso eventually finished the Monaco Grand Prix in 6th place, after the race stewards decided that the move performed by Michael Schumacher over the Spaniard in the last hundreds of meters of the race was illegal. The FIA issued a statement in which it confirmed the 41-year old German was handed a 20-second penalty for the overtaking maneuver.

According to the FIA stewards, rule 40.13 of the F1 regulation clearly states that “if the race ends whilst the safety car is deployed it will enter the pitlane at the end of the last lap and the cars will take the chequered flag as normal without overtaking.”

After the safety car went in following a racing incident between Karun Chandhok and Jarno Trulli, the field was set to cross the chequered flag under the SC. However, the Mercedes Benz SC entered the pits only meters before the finish line, giving Schumacher the opportunity to pass Alonso in the Anthony Noghes corner.

According to the media present in Monaco, Mercedes GP – whose Michael Schumacher and Ross Brawn showed plenty of optimism before the decision was taken by the FIA stewards – has already launched an appeal, which is to be judged by the FIA’s Court of Appeal at a later date.

“The FIA said the appeal is strictly against the decision, not the penalty itself as drive-throughs cannot be appealed,” said a report from Autosport.

If the decision will not be reversed, Schumacher will drop to 12th overall – meaning he’ll score no points in the race – while Alonso will score an extra 2 points and therefore come only 3 points behind Red Bull duo Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel in the overall classification.

Furthermore, all the other drivers behind Alonso have now scored more points, with STR-Ferrari’s Sebastien Buemi making the scoreboard for the first time this season.