Schumacher stripped of Monaco pole
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-05-28 09:39
Ferrari's Michael Schumacher was banished to the back of the Monaco Grand
Prix starting grid on Saturday after stewards stripped him of pole position for
a driving infringement.
They said in a statement that the seven-times champion had deliberately
stopped his car on the track at the penultimate Rascasse corner in the closing
seconds of qualifying, preventing rivals from setting a faster time.
Renault's Spanish world champion Fernando Alonso will now start on pole with
Australian Mark Webber alongside in a Williams.
Nearly eight hours after qualifying had ended, and with Schumacher leaving
the paddock after an impromptu meeting with reporters to protest his innocence,
the governing International Automobile Federation issued the stewards' verdict.
The two page document found that the 37-year-old German had broken the rules
on a number of counts.
"The stewards can find no justifiable reason for the driver to have braked
with such undue, excessive and unusual pressure at this part of the circuit and
are therefore left with no alternative but to conclude that the driver
deliberately stopped his car on the circuit," they said.
"This is a breach of 2006 Formula One sporting regulations article 116 and
hence a driving infringement," it added.
"The stewards accordingly direct that the qualifying times of Michael
Schumacher, the driver of car number five, be deleted.
"The effect of this is that...the driver will start the race from the back of
the grid."
The verdict means that Ferrari will now have both cars at the back after
Schumacher's Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa crashed out in the first part of
qualifying.
Monaco's tight and twisting circuit is almost impossible to overtake on,
meaning that Schumacher effectively has no hope of equalling the late Brazilian
world champion Ayrton Senna's record of six Monaco wins in the race.
It is also a major blow to his hopes of an eighth title, with Alonso already
15 points clear after six races.
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