Jeered Schumacher stonewalls after team orders win

Michael Schumacher sat stony faced on Sunday amid accusations that Ferrari team orders had tarnished his likely fifth title and damaged Formula One.

Catcalls and jeers had rippled from the stands where fans watched aghast as his Brazilian team mate Rubens Barrichello, after leading from pole, obeyed instructions and slowed at the finish to allow the German to win the Austrian Grand Prix.

Some suggested that the four times world champion's season was now in danger of being seriously diminished by Ferrari's manipulation of the sixth race of the season.

"I don't think so," the German replied when asked if the sport's credibility had been damaged.

"We have seen this in racing all the time. I am sure that next week there will be lots of moaning and lots of complaints about all this.

"Some will understand, some not. Maybe the majority here today is not understanding. I understand this as well."

There was no doubt that Ferrari deserved to win but the unfairness of the outcome struck a deep chord in a season that has seen Schumacher win five times, while Barrichello has been cursed by bad luck.

FERRARI FAVOURITE

It was the second year in a row that Barrichello, confirmed only last week for another two years at the world champions, had to make way for Ferrari's favourite.

Last year it was second place that was at stake, rather than what would have been Barrichello's second career win in 153 starts.

Schumacher sent a confused message in a hostile news conference, suggesting that he regretted the team orders and had thought about disobeying them.

"I was thinking very strongly about this," he said.

"I was hoping that there would not be such an order.

"You sort of can see from the telemetry that on the straight when Rubens backed off, I backed off. But then he backed off even further.

"You sit outside and you have a lot of time to think about all this. We sit in there and it wasn't a long preparation. They came on the radio in the last couple of metres and said he would back off.

"I didn't feel like it. I have to be honest to say now it was probably the wrong decision to win this race.

"If I had the chance to turn it around, I would probably do so but I cannot now."

But the German also defended the team's decision and suggested that the points could be critical for the championship despite Ferrari's utter dominance so far and his own 27-point lead.

"You have to probably respect the team for this decision, although maybe there is not a lot of respect from some people," he said.

"If you look at last year, we had the same situation and it probably wasn't necessary in the end. But you don't know before. It is a situation that you can never win, in which you are always the loser.

"I'm not very happy about it either today, I wished they hadn't come on the radio to tell me this. I wish we could have finished the race the way it was.

"I was pushing until the end and you never know what is going to happen but it was clearly not enough, he did a superb race today. He simply outpaced me this weekend."

HOSTILITY

The hostile questions continued nonetheless:

"If you win this championship now, what is it worth?" Schumacher was asked.

"I don't think this is a very nice question to ask now," he replied

"Isn't this a sport, isn't this about motor racing?" said the same questioner. There was silence.

"Do you want to win the world championship as the best driver or the driver with the best contract?" asked another. Again, no response.

The same fate met a question about whether or not he would appeal if the FIA ruling body were to exclude both Ferrari drivers for bringing the sport into disrepute.

Also read:
- Schumacher vows to pay back Barrichello
- Schumacher snatches controversial win