Protests, paperwork mar British Grand Prix

   Copyright c 1998 Nando Media
   Copyright c 1998 Reuters

SILVERSTONE, England (Jul 13, 1998 - 9:15 EDT) - Formula One stumbled into
another morass of paperwork, protests and controversy in the aftermath of
Sunday's rain-hit British Grand Prix.

Teams and officials did their best to transform the sport into
"Formula Fiasco."

Even Michael Schumacher, who took the chequered flag in the pitlane, was
uncertain he was the race winner until he had returned to the parc ferme
and been congratulated by his brother Ralf.

He completed his third successive victory this summer and his first on British soil.

Television commentators, experienced observers and rival team members, not
to mention the 110,000 spectators, were left confused by the series of
decisions and announcements which came at the end of the race.

Then the McLaren team, angry at missing out on what they hoped would be a
clear victory for Mika Hakkinen, instigated its own protests and appeals.

The outcome was that no one at Silverstone on Sunday went to bed that night
understanding the outcome of what should have been a simple and spectacular
60-lap race in the rain.

The result, as too often in recent years, was left hanging in the balance
to be decided by courts and councils.

Formula One has been plagued by controversy this season.

The season-opening event in Australia was manipulated by McLaren so that
Mika Hakkinen could be gifted victory by David Coulthard and the Brazilian
Grand Prix was almost submerged in protests against McLaren's high-tech
braking systems.

The recent Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal was hit by rows about driving
standards and the French race by McLaren complaints that they would have
won if it had not been re-started.

On Sunday McLaren had expected to win after world drivers' championship
leader Hakkinen took pole position, made a fine start and then led the race
for the opening 40 laps until heavy rain upset his and his team's chances.

Hakkinen spun off and damaged his car's front wing on lap 41 and was never
able to recover.

Although he stayed in the lead, the rain forced the introduction of the
safety car and gave Schumacher a perfect chance to close the gap, pile on
the pressure and then force the Finn into another error.

He spun off after the safety car had led the field for six laps.

McLaren complained that Schumacher had overtaken a rival car -- Alexander
Wurz's Benetton -- on lap 43 and that he should have been forced to serve a
10-second 'stop-go' penalty in the pitlane. But the introduction of the
safety car on lap 44 confused the officials.

As a result, Schumacher was not penalised until the closing laps when he
had 10 seconds added to his winning race time -- a decision which McLaren
protested against.

They lost their protest to the race stewards but later decided to appeal to
the FIA (International Motoring Federation) court of appeal.

McLaren boss Ron Dennis said afterwards that "it is a very complicated
matter." But it is arguable if he would find much support.

Mercedes-Benz sporting director Norbert Haug said: "It was a hell of a
race and we gave everything. You cannot say we had a bad performance and,
OK, some issues are not helping us."

"In the last race (France), the first start was aborted which did not
help us. Here the safety car did not help us."

"But I want to stress that the FIA are not doing this on purpose. It
is important to say that but I feel when you add all the facts together all
these issues are not helping us -- but it will change around."

Haug's words appeared to pour a little oil on troubled waters.

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