450SEL6.9

Season's over.. Schu is stripped of pole and he starts at back of grid. Alonso wins and the gap is 25. This is a dangerous precedent. I think he stopped his car deliberately, but the FIA is interpreting intent, which is a difficult thing. This is a bad move for future accidents.

Is there a point for Ferrari to race the Monaco GP? The chance to score even one point is basically zero. They should just withdraw.

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The Artist

Michael Schumacher has been moved to the back of the grid for the Monaco Grand Prix after stewards concluded that he deliberately blocked the track in the closing stages of qualifying, preventing rivals from beating his time.

The decision - which came eight hours later - means Renault’s Fernando Alonso will now start from pole position with the Williams of Mark Webber alongside him. Schumacher is demoted to the back row, where he will join Ferrari team mate Felipe Massa, who crashed out of qualifying without setting a time.

Schumacher appeared to lock his brakes and then run wide as he entered the final Rascasse corner in the dying moments of the session. The former champion regained control without hitting the barriers, but came to a halt with his stalled car partially blocking the circuit, forcing other drivers to slow down.

Following the session, the stewards heard evidence concerning the incident from Schumacher - who claimed it was a genuine error - as well as Ferrari personnel. They also reviewed video footage and data evidence supplied by the team and the FIA.

Their finding was that Schumacher had no justifiable reason for braking so hard, as he had been traveling little or no quicker than at the same point on previous laps. They therefore concluded that he deliberately stopped his car on the circuit, an infringement of the sporting regulations.

As punishment the stewards deleted all of Schumacher’s qualifying times, hence his move to the back of the grid, from where he has little or no chance of taking a record-equaling sixth Monaco Grand Prix win.

Ferrari’s Jean Todt expressed the team's displeasure at the stewards' findings, saying: “We totally disagree with it. Such a decision creates a very serious precedent, ruling out the possibility of driver error. Michael was on his final timed lap and he was trying to put his first place beyond doubt, as could be seen from the fact that his first split time was the best and could have seen him do another very good lap. With no real evidence, the stewards have assumed he is guilty."

The FIA will publish the grid in full as usual on Sunday morning.
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Thank you lord..there is some justice afterall..
GO KIMI

bmwownage

Data don't lie... maybe his mistake was 'accidentally stomping his foot on the brake too hard for some reason'... if that's the case he should have his F1 license withdrew.

450SEL6.9

Jacques Villeneuve, who I despise despite him being Canadian, basically said something similar. I don't think what Michael did was sporting, but the way the FIA ruled that he intended to block the track was very suspect. Even in the legal system, it is very difficult to prove intent. In corporate white-collar crime like insider trading, the intent to commit the crime is so hard to prove. What makes the FIA think they have proven it, telementary? The FIA just ruled on the intent of an accident and it is a bad precedent that'll bite them in the arse.

If Ferrari have any balls whatsoever, they'll start the race and park it on lap one. What the hell would be the point? They can't score meaningful points, if any points at all. The championships are over. I think this is the end for Michael Schumacher. He's gone at season's end!

RikfromBelgium

Filthy diseased ****sucking bastards !*@" They destroyed one of the most exciting seasons in years for something they can't prove. If I hear any more surprised comments of them on what to do to make more people watch F1, I'm going over there and shoot the lot of those mother***** in the face. God I'm pissed

Deutsch

I wish I could indulge in the exhiliration of being an F1 fan, instead I get stuck w/ NASCAR.

450SEL6.9

I was actually easing back into watching F1 after tuning out the entirety of last season. This really does it. I had been a fan for 10 solid years and they lost me. I have said it before and damn it, I'll say it again: F1 is run by stupid marketing people. They let the sport erode and decay in its major markets, UK and Germany, by slashing old races to go to overseas races on uninteresting new tracks. After today, F1 will have to do with its most famous star because Schu will hang it up this year. What is the point of him continuation? The entire FIA just labelled him a cheat though they can't prove anything. Murderers get a fairer judgment than him.

Centurion

Good that they got punished becasue if they hadn't it would have been a discrace. To bad the qualification wasn't broadcasted on one of my cabel channels. Other than that it will be a very interesting race and I'll watch every single minute of it.

Imhotep Evil

Actually stupid marketing people are not the problem.
Nor is adding new tracks.
The lack of competition is.
And several controversial/weird even stupid measures were adopted with the purpose of increasing competition/audience.



Baloney, they should have withdrawn his license if this really was a mistake.

The Artist

the quali was on the new channel instead of ZTV.. TV6 is the name..

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