Michael Schumacher has shown in various occasions in the past that he can't tolerate defeat and he tried persistently to take out of the race in any possible way his strong competitors especially when it was a matter of championship decision. Start was made in Adelaide in 1995 when he crashed with Damon Hill, and he repeated a similar move on 1997 against Jacques Villeneuve at the Jerez de la Frontera. Although Schumacher was penalised by the FIA by losing all his championship points he never admitted but recently his illegal move. In 2004 he had another controversial crash with Juan Pablo Montoya at Imola and then he excused himself by stating that had no vision of Montoya's car. David Coulthard was another driver, that Schumacher tried to stop overtake him by breaking the sporting rules of fair play.
However, his latest move against his ex team-mate Rubens Barichello could had been the most lethal one as he tried to push him in the pit wall while driving at around 200 Kmph. Fortunately nobody was hurt and Barichello made the pass to Schumacher unharmed. Yet, Schumacher for one more time he did everything that was possible to avoid a faster car to overtake him and lose 1 championship point although he is found far in the middle of the standings. Many might support his moves as pure racing incidents but when competition threats lives then it is not competition at all.
Rubens Barrichelo commented about the incident at BBC Sport:
"Horrible! That should be a black flag.
On a track that is so difficult to overtake, you should choose a line and that is it. It was close, close, close, close and luckily the wall finished there and I was able to go a bit more to the right.
There is not a rule for that but between ourselves we should take a line, stick to it and that's it. He is taking something from the past to the future or the present and I don't think it is needed. There has been a lot of controversy already over the last week so there was no need for that."
Schumacher defended himself stating with arrogance that he left Barrichello enough space to go the other side but that he opted against it.
"There is not much to say other than he obviously had fresher tyres. My job was to get the last corner spot on and I had a line of about five centimetres I had to hit and in that lap I ran a little wide and started sliding so my exit speed was compromised. I was moving over to the inside to make it very obvious and clear to him to go on the other side, there is more space for you. He didn't choose to, so it got a bit tight. We know certain drivers have certain views and there is Rubens."
As a result for his illegal move, the Hungarian race stewards found Schumacher guilty for "illegitimately impeded car 9 during an overtaking manoeuvre" but penalised him softly with just a 10 positions penalty for the grid of the following grand prix.
But his moved illustrated another dark page at Schumacher's golden career spoiling for one more time his fame, although in the past he contributed in order FIA to establish safer measures for the F1 drivers.
Triple world champion Niki Lauda has slammed Schumacher's move labelling it "completely unacceptable" stating on RTL television: "To endanger another competitor in such a way is totally unnecessary. I cannot understand why he does those things."
Lotus technical boss Mike Gascoyne continued:
"For me it should have been a one race ban,"
David Coulthard added: "It could have been a horrible accident. He never knows when to give it up, but perhaps now he should with his comeback."
Reigning World Champion Jenson Button commented: "It's pretty hard to say it's someone else's fault if you put him into the pitwall."
Speaking on the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast Show, his ex team-mate eddie Irvine condemned his move as well.
"He was an idiot. It was an idiotic manoeuvre that was extremely dangerous. It was incredible. He wasn't thinking and it was just pure arrogance that he thought he could just drive another driver into the pit wall."
Barrichello later commented stewards decision: "It was a go-kart manoeuvre.
If he wants to go to heaven - in the event he is going to heaven - I don't want to go before him. Thank God I was lucky the wall finished where it did because I was millimetres from it. I said to the stewards we are two of the most experienced guys out there, and if Michael does that, it means kids can do that too.
That is where it is wrong in my opinion. But I am just very glad and very lucky we are here to talk, honestly."
British tabloids called for the 41-year-old to return to retirement after pushing his former Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello towards the pitwall at the Hungaroring.
And even the Daily Telegraph said the Mercedes driver's "arrogance can no longer be tolerated in Formula One".
La Gazzetta dello Sport said the German finally "went too far" with the violent defense of tenth position.
"The arrogant Schumacher showed no remorse but is the same as ever; never his fault. It was a miracle that this maneuver did not end badly."
The Italian sports daily referred to the fact that the seven time world champion is an ambassador for the FIA's road safety campaign.
"A little advice for those starting their holidays; if someone tries to overtake you, please do the exact opposite of what the celebrated ex-champion did in Hungary."
La Repubblica and Corriere dello Sport called the move "madness"
Il Secolo XIX said it marked his "demise"
Tuttosport said it was "dangerous". Barrichello just avoided crashing into the wall and landing in hospital, if not worse.
Corriere della Sera added: "Schumacher the villain, as he has always been."
Spain's sports newspaper Marca said: "Schumacher's return to Formula One is one of the darkest chapters in the history of the sport."
