Trulli defends GPDA role

The incident in Monte Carlo thrust the GPDA into the spotlight amid suggestions that the groundswell of opinion against Schumacher could lead to him being voted off as GPDA president in a meeting at Silverstone last week.

In the end, the drivers agreed to settle their differences and put the incident behind them.

But the subsequent resignation of Jacques Villeneuve from the GPDA over the matter, allied to the absence from the Silverstone meeting of world champion Fernando Alonso and other leading drivers like Kimi Raikkonen, Juan Pablo Montoya and Mark Webber, has led to questions being raised about the effectiveness of the body.

Trulli, who is a director of the drivers' body, thinks any criticisms of it are wrong though - because the GPDA exists purely to improve safety in the sport.

"We founded the association to do our best to improve safety," he said. "We have achieved many things through many years and sometimes you don't see but it doesn't mean that GPDA is wrong or unsuccessful. What we have achieved is a lot."

The Toyota driver makes it clear that the GPDA is not there to rule on drivers' behaviour so had no reason to act against Schumacher over what happened at Monaco.

He added: "Every driver can behave the way they want and in the end it is the FIA that judges the driver. The GPDA cannot judge a driver.

"I'm not saying we don't care but the GPDA cannot judge, officially, driver behaviour. We can discuss between us personally but I can do that with any other drivers outside of GPDA."

Trulli believes that the GPDA was unfairly dragged into the Monaco controversy by drivers who chose to speak out in the media about Schumacher ahead of the meeting at Silverstone.

"Before the meeting (on the Friday of Silverstone) I personally heard many things from many drivers and absolutely no-one came up with a serious concern," he said. "I was very surprised because before getting to the meeting I was expecting someone to raise the problem of Monaco and people at the moment seem pretty quiet.

"After Monaco people start raising the matter to the press and the GPDA was involved for whatever reason because people started speculating that someone should not be in the GPDA anymore. Once we said let's sit down at GPDA and talk about it, no one clearly was keen to talk about it.

"So for me everything was closed. Personally, Michael, for what he did in Monaco, got his penalty, and fair enough. He is working for GPDA in terms of safety.

"Personally, if I have a problem with someone and want to raise it, I raise it. But if I don't, then I don't. We are talking about safety at GPDA. If I want to talk with someone I will do it away from GPDA."