Michael Schumacher on Sunday night said he regretted winning the Austrian GP and revealed that he “considered defying Ferrari’s last-minute orders” to pass Rubens Barrichello – a clear contradiction of what the German said in his post-race interview.
Michael Schumacher on Sunday night said he regretted winning the Austrian GP and revealed that he “considered defying Ferrari’s last-minute orders” to pass Rubens Barrichello – a clear contradiction of what the German said in his post-race interview.
Speaking at the press conference shortly after the race, Schumacher defended Ferrari’s controversial tactics – but later admitted he was uncomfortable with the way in which he won.
"I was hoping that there would not be such an order," Schumacher said several hours after the race. "You sort of can see from the telemetry that on the straight when Rubens backed off, I backed off. But then he backed off even further.
During the last lap of the race, Schumacher was informed by his pit crew that Barrichello would slow down to allow the German to take the chequered flag.
"I didn’t feel like it (passing Barrichello). I have to be honest to say now it was probably the wrong decision to win this race,” Schumacher said. "If I had the chance to turn it around, I would probably do so but I cannot now."
But in the immediate aftermath of the race, Schumacher said the team had been justified in its decision to maximise championship points. The German, however, stressed that he had not been involved in making the decision…
"We have to look at what the team’s ambition is – and the team’s ambition is to win the championship and we have to secure this because you never know what’s going to happen in the next race.
"It was a team decision," he added. "Last year I was involved in the situation because it was important for the championship as it was much more tight. But I was asked this morning and I said I didn’t think team strategy would be involved.
"The decision comes from Ferrari," Schumacher said. "From the top, it’s (Ferrari president) Luca Montezemolo, then it’s (team manager) Jean Todt. We’ve always had this philosophy. Some people like it some people don’t. I’m not really in favour of it. I told Rubens on the podium I hope the championship is over soon so we can get back to racing."
"The team is investing a lot of money for one target. Imagine in the end if we lost the championship by this amount of points – how stupid would we look?” Schumacher said.
"I know the decision is not popular, but imagine if we had lost the championship by this number of points at the end of the season," he added. "The team would look stupid in that situation.
"If the team had taken this decision in the last race with the title still open nobody would be saying anything about today’s events."
