The Silverstone Controversy - Schumi the rightful winner?

(14-Jul-98) - Following the events of last weekend and the confusion
surrounding them, autosportmag.com explains exactly what happened, the
rules that are relevant, and allows you to decide for yourself who's right
and who's wrong.

What happened:

- 3.15pm Lap 43, Schumacher passes Wurz under a stationary yellow flag

- 3.16pm The safety car is sent out

- 3.39pm The stewards' decision to penalise Schumacher 10 seconds is recorded.

- 3.43pm Ferrari receives notice of a 10-second penalty, but the document
says that it is a type 57 (e) penalty - one to be added at the end of the
race, which cannot be applied given that the offence occurred with 17 laps
to go. This is 28 minutes after the offence - three minutes beyond the time
limit for the penalty to be notified.

- 3.47pm Covering itself in the confusion, Ferrari brings Schumacher in for
a stop-go, but he crosses the finish line before reaching his pit. He
rejoins the circuit and, strangely, does two more laps.

- McLaren protests but it is thrown out because the notification was not
displayed on the timing monitors and because more than 25 minutes elapsed
before Ferrari was told. No alternative penalty is imposed on Schumacher,
but McLaren's protest fee is returned, a tacit admission that the stewards
have messed up.

- McLaren appeals the rejection of its protest.

The rules:

Article 57 of the F1 sporting regulations states:

Should the stewards decide to impose a time penalty, the following
procedure will be followed:

a) The stewards shall, no later than 25 minutes after the moment at which
the incident occurred, give written notification of the time penalty which
has been imposed to an official of the team concerned. Notification of the
penalty, which will include the time at which the stewards' decision was
made, will also be displayed on the timing monitors.

b) Subject to (e), - see rules above - from the time the stewards' decision
is notified on the timing monitors the relevant driver may cover no more
than three complete laps before entering the pits and proceeding to his pit
where he shall remain for the period of the time penalty

c) If an incident for which a time penalty is imposed occurs with 12 or
less complete laps remaining to the finish of the race, the stewards shall
have the right to add the time penalty to the elapsed time of the driver
concerned.

Stewards' errors:

- They did not pass notice of the decision to impose a 10-second time
penalty on Schumacher to Ferrari until 31 minutes after the incident. The
rules dictate that the team must be told 'no later than 25 minutes after
the incident occurred';

- They failed to post notice of the penalty on the official timing screen monitors;

- They are said to have decided that Schumacher's penalty should be added
to his race time, but failed to notice that because it happened with
17-laps to go, any time penalty had to be a stop-go.

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