Schumacher wasn't Asked to Sign Petition

All of Michelin's race stars, plus some third drivers and the two Minardi runners, signed a document backing the claims that the only safe way for the United States Grand Prix to go ahead was for a chicane to be built before Turn 13.

The move led to questions about why the signatures of Ferrari duo Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello, plus Jordan drivers Tiago Monteiro and Narain Karthikeyan were missing from the document.

When asked by reporters at Magny-Cours about the matter, Schumacher claimed he had not been asked to sign the submission - and said he would have refused to do so even if he had been.

"As far as I understand, it was an initiative from Renault, I don't recall they called me, first of all," he explained. "I would have been surprised if they had anyway.

"I think we just have different opinions about it, which is only natural so I would not have signed it."

He added: "There were certain points that were never really part of the discussion, actually, so there was no point in signing it."

Monteiro echoed Schumacher's claims that he was also not asked to sign the document.

"The main reason is that I haven't heard of or seen this paper," said the Portuguese. "I read  about it in the press but nobody contacted us or asked our opinion, so that's probably the main reason for it."

The issue with the FIA submission has come after an attempt by the Grand Prix Drivers' Association to create a document securing their right not to race in the event of future safety concerns was scuppered by the failure to get every driver to agree to it.

The GPDA, which every driver on the grid apart from Jacques Villeneuve is a member, is due to hold further meetings this weekend to discuss the ramifications of the events at Indianapolis.

Jarno Trulli said on Thursday that he believed some issues now needed to be clarified - and said he feared the GPDA had been weakened by what happened at the United States Grand Prix.

"Well, I think the situation is not clear," said the Italian. "I think we will be more weak because there is something not clear, as I received the document direct from  the GPDA and we all know how many people are in the GPDA.

"So, I don't really understand the situation and  I will try to understand it better tomorrow when we will have a meeting. 

"Anyway, we will all get the information from the GPDA by email. So nobody can say I didn't get the message. You can only say I didn't agree. That is my opinion. But I think it is better to discuss it more."