Gascoyne brands Schuey 'pathetic'

The world champion said that he felt Trulli's tactics were "not appropriate" when the Italian was defending second place in the early stages of the Melbourne race. Schumacher accused him of "closing the door everywhere" despite the Ferrari's speed advantage over the Renault. Eventually, Trulli spun out of the race, leaving Schumacher free to race on and win.

But speaking to BBC Sport Online, Gascoyne reckoned Schumacher was out of order. "His comments about Jarno defending his position were pathetic and inappropriate," he said. "Everyone wants to see racing and there were two guys racing for position. Michael had the better car and it's up to him to pass."

Gascoyne also absolved Trulli of blame for the spin, which was caused by oil laid down by team-mate Jenson Button in the aftermath of the first corner accident that eliminated the Englishman from the race.

"[Jarno] was getting off line racing with Michael, so his line through the first chicane was variable because he was having to take different lines into the corner to defend his postion. We went and watched it from Michael's in-car camera, and you can see the oil every lap. It's just that Jarno hit it that lap because he was slightly off line.

"It's very unfortunate, but you can't blame him."