JULY 21, 2002

McLaren whinge after Schumacher victory

The McLaren team says it accepts the decision of the FIA Stewards over the incident between Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen.

THE McLaren team says it accepts the decision of the FIA Stewards over the incident between Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen but complained that "we feel that the regulations concerning overtaking maneuvers under a yellow flag need further clarification".

The FIA Stewards had decided that there was nothing wrong with what Michael Schumacher did when Kimi Raikkonen went wide after running over some oil on the run down to the Adelaide Hairpin. The Finn was off the race track and had to back off when he tried to come back on to the track as Schumacher was by then at the point on the track where the Finn wanted to be. The move was the critical moment in the race and resulted in Schumacher beating Raikkonen to victory.

McLaren did not actually protest Schumacher's move but the questions raised meant that the results were not made official until several hours after the race.

McLaren later issued a statement saying that it felt "strongly that it would be inappropriate to take any further action which would detract from the outcome of the 2002 Formula 1 World Championship."