Focus: Decision Day Looms for Schumacher

Formula One's ruling body could do what few of Michael Schumacher's rivals have managed on the racetrack this season by taking points off the four times champion on Wednesday.

Or they could simply issue a warning to him and Ferrari for what happened in Austria last month.

It is still anyone's guess what will happen when Schumacher, Brazilian teammate Rubens Barrichello and Ferrari appear before the 22 members of the International Automobile Federation (FIA)'s World Motor Sport Council in Paris.

They were summoned after Barrichello obeyed team orders at Spielberg's A1 Ring on May 12 and allowed the German to overtake him just a few metres from the finish.

Confusion followed when Schumacher, booed and jeered by outraged supporters, pushed Barrichello to the top of the podium to accept the trophy and let him take the winner's place at a post-race news conference.

The hearing, which has hung over the last three races since Spielberg, is top of the council's agenda and a decision is expected at around 0900 GMT.

Silent Schumacher

Schumacher, who joined FIA president Max Mosley on Tuesday at a road car safety launch in Cologne that lauded FIAT-owned Ferrari's rivals Mercedes, has avoided the subject. With six wins in nine races, he is cruising to a record-equalling fifth world title. At the moment he has 76 points, a 46-point lead over brother Ralf.

"I don't think it is right to get into this sort of story at all because it is sort of a court case and you have to understand that we don't want to talk about it," he said.

Tuesday's Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper made clear in a headline that Wednesday could have an impact on the Championship: "Ferrari, the real Grand Prix comes tomorrow".

There are several possible scenarios but the general consensus is that there is little the FIA can do to punish Ferrari for the use of team orders. The FIA can fine the team and their multi-millionaire driver or they could issue a verbal warning, neither a major headache.

A more severe response would be for Barrichello to be awarded the Austrian win and for Schumacher to lose four points. In an even tougher response, he could lose ten. Until Wednesday, all is mere speculation.