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Sunday, 24 June 2012 16:58 |
  Red Bull Racing may have put the brakes on Michael Schumacher's celebrations, after the seven time Formula One World Champion on Sunday tasted podium champagne for the first time since 2006.
Mark Webber, who finished behind the Mercedes at Valencia, had radioed the pits, and therefore the listening FIA, to complain that Schumacher had deployed his overtaking rear wing drag reduction system (DRS) through a yellow flag zone.
"I hate to dampen the euphoria about Michael Schumacher but it is clear to see on the television images," Red Bull's Dr. Helmut Marko said on German television Sky.
Team boss Christian Horner added after the race: "The stewards have all the information and will take care of it."
A post race 20 second time penalty would surely cost Schumacher the podium.
But speaking to the BBC after the race, Mercedes AMG team boss Ross Brawn said he checked the data personally and found that Schumacher disengaged the DRS flap thirty metres before the yellow flag zone.
Subsequent video footage showed the DRS flap open as the Mercedes W03 passed the first single yellow flag, but flipped down a few metres before the second double yellow waved flag further on.
The debate is whether the regulations stipulate that the rear wing flap has to be closed through a yellow flag zone in the DRS enabled section of the track, or how fast the driver reacts towards being shown a yellow flag and returning the vent to the off position, acknowledging the marshals flags.
Update - 19h00 (GMT) - No post race penalty for Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher kept his first podium finish since the 2006 season prior to his first period of retirement following the post race investigation by the FIA race stewards into the possibility that he had not slowed down for yellow flags during the 2012 European Grand Prix in Valencia.
After meeting with the multiple champion and the Mercedes AMG teams’ representatives the stewards were satisfied that data from the car showed the German had slowed significantly in the instance in question and his third place stands.
F1SA.com
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