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| May 13, 2002 | Monday | Safar 29, 1423 |
Thought of ignoring orders
SPIELBERG, May 12: Michael Schumacher said he had considered disobeying Ferrari’s controversial Ferrari team orders.
The four times world champion took the chequered flag only after his Brazilian team mate Rubens Barrichello slowed in the last few metres after leading from the start.
Schumacher, in a hostile news conference in which he refused to answer some questions, suggested he had even tried not to win and regretted the circumstances of a tainted victory.
Although Ferrari were in a class of their own, Schumacher’s 58th career win was quite possibly the least deserved of his decade in Formula One.
“I was thinking very strongly about this,” he said when asked whether he could have ignored the team orders and refused to pass Barrichello.
“I was hoping that there would not be such an order.
“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.
“You sit outside and you have a lot of time to think about all this. We sit in there and it wasn’t a long preparation. They came on the radio in the last couple of metres and said he would back off.
“I didn’t feel like it. I have to be honest to say now it was probably the wrong decision to win this race.
“If I had the chance to turn it around, I would probably do so but I cannot now.”
Former Ferrari driver Gerhard Berger slammed team orders and termed them a “terrible decision”.
“I understand if you are fighting for the championship ... but in an early stage of the season such a decision is not very good for the sport,” added the Austrian.—Reuters
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