Brawn believes the safety car period had officially ended when the official car entered the pitlane, while Nico Rosberg appreciated Schumacher’s pass.
"From my perspective it was a really cool maneuver, but apparently it's not allowed," Rosberg told German television RTL. Schumacher’s team-mate added that Mercedes told him on the radio that overtaking between the safety car line and the chequered flag was allowed.
"The move was very clean. The rules are different this year. In the past you could only overtake from the start/finish line, now it is from the safety car line. Alonso was a little bit asleep," Mercedes’ reserve driver Nick Heidfeld told Sky television. Mercedes Grand Prix has decided on Sunday night to appeal the Monaco stewards’ decision of dropping Michael Schumacher out of the points.
The German received a 20-second penalty for an overtaking maneuver on Alonso on the final lap of the Monaco Grand Prix. Schumacher overtook the Spaniard immediately after the safety-car entered the pitlane, even if the yellow flag was still on. Mercedes GP believes Schumacher's maneuver was legal, and decided to challenge the decision at the FIA's Court of Appeal. A hearing date is yet to be set.
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.”
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