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Schumacher and Barrichello Even the Score

Michael Schumacher settled a debt with Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello at the US Grand Prix on Sunday, intentionally or not.

Michael Schumacher settled a debt with Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello at the US Grand Prix on Sunday, intentionally or not.

The five times World Champion slowed at the finish, after leading from the start, and then saw the Brazilian slip across the line first.

Schumacher said there had been no deliberate plan, other than to finish side by side, but the end result had cancelled out the favour Barrichello did for him in May when he handed the German a controversial victory in Austria.

At that stage, the championship was still live and Ferrari were determined to give their number one driver maximum points.

"I don't feel particularly happy with what happened in Austria, but from the point of decision we had to make at the time, I understood and we both understood it," Schumacher said.

"With what has now happened, I feel to some degree that I equalised this and I feel I can give him back something where he deserved to win.

"We said we wouldn't do this (again) and we hadn't planned to do this. It happened, it just happened."

Podium Fine

Ferrari caused worldwide uproar in May when Barrichello led from pole only to be told to move over at the finish and let Schumacher win.

Schumacher then pushed Barrichello to the top of the podium and made him take the trophy, a gesture that led to the drivers and team being fined $1 million for breach of the post-race procedures.

The team had said it would not manipulate a race again in such an obvious way and Sunday's outcome in Indianapolis was seen by some observers as more of an error in timing on Schumacher's part than a deliberate plan.

"I did ask before whether I could let him (Barrichello) by and could let him win the race and they (Ferrari) said no," added Schumacher.

"As again, there was no plan in this. The team basically didn't want this to happen but it has happened now. But I feel nice that it has happened.

"I've said before that we are such a good team and we understand each other very well. Sometimes you may have to sacrifice, for me, in a couple of races this year and to a certain degree, what goes around comes around.

"Maybe this was the day."

Asked whether he should be trying his hardest to win every race rather than staging a show finish, Schumacher replied: "I think life is to be honest and to be fair and that's what I want to be."

Barrichello, now with five career wins to his credit, thanked Schumacher for the unexpected gift that confirmed his second place in the championship.

"It wasn't planned," he said. "I got to the last corner, I didn't know what to do and nothing has been said. Michael was just very kind to, you know, let us finish equally.

"I think it's zero-zero now.

"Like Michael said, if you purely think that I won Austria and he won Indy, that's it. Today was a payback and I'm completely happy with the situation."

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