Even at 42, with more titles and race wins than anyone else, Michael Schumacher cannot drive away from controversy. It dogs him wherever he goes. After the romance of his stirring drive to fifth place in the Belgian Grand Prix last month on the circuit where he made his F1 debut 20 years earlier, the seven-times champion reminded us all of his more belligerent and bruising side en route to the same finish in last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.
It may not have been akin to the title-deciding incidents at Adelaide in 1994 or Jerez in 1997, but it did stir up some memories – and Lewis Hamilton had good reason to grimace as he struggled to keep a still tongue during the post-race interviews. Schumacher’s former Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello must have watched the incidents with a knowing grin too.
The one-time red baron had left the Brazilian with nowhere to go during the Hungarian Grand Prix last year. Predictably, the Monza manifestation of Mercedes’ muscle divided opinion, but the majority of the drivers were clearly with Hamilton and Mercedes in complaining that Schumacher had stretched the rules to breaking point. McLaren team chief Martin Whitmarsh described it as ‘pretty harsh’ and Red Bull’s Australian driver Mark Webber declared that the German was ‘pushing the boundaries’ by making more than his one permitted defensive move. Webber said Schumacher’s driving was not what other racers understood
as acceptable.
