Analysis: Schumacher's Image Now Damaged

Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix was a race with no real winner and plenty of losers.

The main casualty could be the sport itself followed closely - with boos and catcalls ringing in their ears - by glamour team Ferrari and their World Champion Michael Schumacher.

History will record the bare statistics that on May 12th 2002, Schumacher won the 58th race of his career, to give Ferrari their 149th Grand Prix win.

It was the German's fifth win in six races and almost certainly made his fifth world title a formality.

But this was a hollow victory, a tarnished triumph because Schumacher's Brazilian teammate Rubens Barrichello was ordered by Ferrari's team leaders not to win.

It took just a few seconds for the cheers to die in the throats of Ferrari fans around the world, to be replaced by jeers and cries of 'fix' as Barrichello slowed up and Schumacher took the chequered flag.

Formula One, already facing claims that television viewers are becoming bored by Schumacher's relentless success, now risks turning off even more.

It is not going to be any easier to sell a Championship in which the only driver with similar equipment to Schumacher is not going to be allowed to win until the title is decided.

At the next race in Monaco, the highlight of the motor racing calendar where overtaking is almost impossible, there will not be a lot of suspense if Schumacher qualifies on the front row with Barrichello.

Tainted Vehicle

"The Ferrari is a tainted vehicle and Formula One is no longer a sport," British great Stirling Moss declared in the Mirror newspaper; "Ferrari ruins everything," mourned Italy's Gazzetta dello Sport in a headline.

"I've never seen anything like it in 14 years in this business," said Renault team boss Flavio Briatore. Williams technical director Patrick Head accused Ferrari of disgraceful cynicism.

From being the mainstay of Formula One, the most evocative and passion-inspiring marque on the grid, Ferrari now stand accused of being cold and calculating.

Schumacher, undoubtedly the greatest driver of his era, was booed by the same fans who normally worship the ground he walks on and his actions revived doubts, always bubbling under the surface, about his sportsmanship.

As the number one, the hugely paid figurehead around whom the entire team is built and whose word carries enormous weight, Schumacher could have refused to obey orders.

Many wished he had. Instead, he thought about it and then took the win when refusal might have earned him the lasting gratitude and affection of millions.

Schumacher gained a victory in the only race on the calendar he had never won, completing the collection of silverware.

But he could have given Formula One so much more by allowing Barrichello a rare moment in the limelight.

Fresh Air

The popular Brazilian had been fastest all weekend, took pole position and would have sealed only his second win in 153 races.

Ferrari justified their decision with the explanation that Formula One is a team sport and that every point could be crucial to Schumacher, who now leads the Championship by 27.

But purely in terms of the Constructors' Championship, it would have made no difference to Ferrari whether Barrichello or Schumacher won since the team would have secured 16 points either way.

That point could prove important next month when Ferrari, Schumacher and Barrichello appear before the International Automobile Federation (FIA) to explain themselves.

When it comes to team orders, the FIA explained its position in a note three years ago:

"What is not acceptable, in the World Council's view, is any arrangement which interferes with a race and cannot be justified by the relevant team's interest in the Championship," it said.

Ferrari must now demonstrate that it was in their interest, even if nobody else's.