Barrichello refuses to complain

"It's something I have been asked to do," he said. "I've just signed a two-year contract, I'm going through a big time in my life and am becoming a better person and a better driver. I think I can get a lot more wins, so there is no point in making a fuss. I have stopped this crying last year but it was my wife's birthday today, so to win would have been nice, but Michael has given me the trophy to take home..."

Schumacher, clearly embarrassed about the incident, said he had given thought to not passing Barrichello. "It only happened in the last couple of hundred yards. I saw him back off, I backed off and then he backed off even more.

"As Rubens pointed out, it was a team decision. This year I didn't even think about it and before the race I didn't think there was going to be a team strategy involved. I'm not very pleased about it, honestly. But you never know what's going to happen. He has been outstanding all weekend and this gesture and the way he has done it shows the belief and the relationship we have in each other.

"Ferrari has always had this philosophy because it's a team sport, we spend a lot of money and at the end of the day we would look stupid if not doing it cost us the championship. In 1999, the Spa race could have cost Hakkinen the championship when McLaren let Coulthard win, so there is another point of view involved."

Both the A1-Ring crowd and the attendant press corps demonstrated its displeasure with a round of booing immediately after the race. The feeling is that thie year Ferrari has enough margin of superiority to make such actions unnecessary.

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