Schu 'almost disqualified'

Michael Schumacher came close to being disqualified from the Hungarian grand prix following his move on Rubens Barrichello, according to race steward Derek Warwick.

Ex-F1 driver Warwick, who acted as an advisor to the Hungarian stewards at the grand prix, said Schumacher would have been back-flagged had there been more time left in the race to set “a better example to younger drivers”.

Read more on Schumacher's apology to Barrichello

Warwick told the BBC: "Throwing a black flag would have shown a better example to our young drivers. But by the time we got the video evidence we ran out of time and we had to do it retrospectively."

Warwick also expressed disappointment over Schumacher’s initial handling of the incident.

"We interviewed Rubens and Michael and it was kind of disappointing how Michael handled it, and we had no option but to give him a 10-place penalty," he said.

"If we had enough laps [we could have disqualified him] but you have to have video evidence and make sure all four stewards are in agreement. You have to view the evidence you have and you could disqualify him from the next grand prix, or two grands prix.

"But we felt a 10-place penalty is a big penalty to carry for Spa. It kind of puts him out of the race at Spa, and hopefully he will learn from that and remember that the new stewards will not tolerate that driving."

Read the full report of the Hungarian GP

The move came on lap 66 of the race when Barrichello, having just stopped for fresh tyres on his Williams, tried to overtake Schumacher on the main straight.

Barrichello moved to the right and pulled alongside Schumacher who continued to move across the track. Barrichello was able to get past but only by driving across the pitlane exit and drain having only just missed the end of the pit wall.

Schumacher refused to apologise initially, but has since said sorry to the Brazilian.

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