Villeneuve leads Schu criticism
Saturday, 27, May, 2006, 20:56
Michael Schumachers claims that his miscue in the final moments of qualifying was accidental have not convinced all of his fellow drivers.
Soon after moving to the top of the timing charts the Ferrari driver ran wide at Rascasse and brought out the yellow flags, just as his key rivals were in the midst of their final flying laps.
Schumacher insisted he had simply made a mistake, but several of his competitors felt that explanation was stretching credulity.
Jacques Villeneuve, a nemesis of Schumachers since their notorious clash at Jerez in 1997, ridiculed the Germans pleas of innocence.
And while he maintained that Schumachers actions were intentional, Villeneuve said he couldnt understand the logic behind them as they were bound to backfire.
I hope it was deliberate, because if that was a mistake he should not even have an F1 superlicence, JV told reporters.
If you can make a mistake like that, you shouldnt drive a race car. Theres no way you could make a mistake like that.
Its the kind of thing I couldnt dream of doing myself.
I dont know what goes through your mind when you decide to do that, when you know that the rest of the world can see.
I dont understand it, its stupid. He didnt need to do that, hes a seven-times world champion, he was on pole position.
Why do that? Its only going to make him look bad.
This is embarrassing. Embarrassing for a world champion. It would even be embarrassing for [Yuji] Ide [who had his superlicence removed earlier in the season].
Williams driver Mark Webber was more circumspect in his comments, saying that only Schumacher would know whether he had blocked the track on purpose or not.
I understand the second sector was well down, Webber was quoted as saying by autosport.com.
You could say he was trying very, very hard in the last sector, but it looks like theres been two moves on the steering wheel from what Ive heard.
Obviously if it is intentional it is childish, isnt it? It looks a bit tricky to be honest.
Senna did some pretty wild things because he believed that was right. But will Michael sleep well tonight? Who knows?
But Webber said that if Schumacher was found guilty of foul play the FIA should throw the book at him.
If its deliberate its absolutely rubbish, he said.
Its massively below the belt and if thats the case he should definitely lose all his qualifying.
McLaren duo Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya were both unimpressed with Schumachers denials.
I dont believe that he really had any problems, Raikkonen was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Montoya added: Was it really a mistake? Im not so sure.
In spite of the cynical reaction of some of his rivals, Schumacher remains adamant that he did nothing wrong and simply made a routine driving error.
Speaking in the post-qualifying press conference, he suggested those casting doubt on his motives were simply adopting a partisan viewpoint.
Your enemies they believe one thing and the people that support you believe another thing and that is what our sport is about, he said.
The incident is currently under investigation by the FIA stewards. A ruling is expected imminently.
