AUGUST 19, 2003

Points of interest from the Schumacher Case

The FIA issued a thick dossier surrounding the case at the hearing of the International Court of Appeal in Paris. This was interesting for various reasons not least that it highlighted the fact that 11 minutes after the accident the FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting sent a report to the FIA Stewards requesting that Schumacher be given a penalty of 10 grid positions at the next event. It was not an arbitrary decision on the part of the stewards but rather a specific recommendation from Whiting.

The dossier also revealed that in his report to the FIA Court of Appeal, three days later, Whiting asked that the court "lay down some guidelines concerning driver's responsibilities under these circumstances for use in the future" as he admitted that "it is sometimes difficult for the race director and stewards to decide at what point careless driving becomes a breach of the regulations".