BBC SPORT | FORMULA ONE | Coulthard sides with Montoya

David Coulthard has accused Michael Schumacher of breaking Formula One's rules in his controversial collision with Juan Pablo Montoya at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The Scot backs up Montoya's view that the Ferrari unfairly blocked the Colombian on the first lap at Interlagos.

Coulthard said: "I have watched the incident repeatedly and to me Michael clearly makes a deliberate swerving manoeuvre to his left after his initial manoeuvre to block Montoya.

"That is not what the regulations say you are allowed to do.

It's a question of whether it was a fair manoeuvre and does Montoya have a case to be angry at Michael

David Coulthard

"My understanding is you are allowed to make a defensive move but you are not allowed to make a move that hinders the opportunity for the car behind you to overtake.

"The wording benefits the guy trying to pass.

"I can imagine there are two bands of old boys, those who say shut up and get on with the racing, that's fine, and then the other band say it's not within the spirit of the new rules.

"I think it was marginal and it was more marginal to me than what happened in Malaysia when Montoya got a drive-through penalty.

"It could at least have been treated as a racing incident and they could have called them up to talk about it. It sends out a confusing message.

"It's a question of whether it was a fair manoeuvre and does Montoya have a case to be angry at Michael. I think the answer to both of them is yes.

Critical

"But then I am just taking the rules and I have always tried to race within the rules."

The acceptance that drivers are allowed to make one move to defend their positions was introduced after a row over Schumacher's driving tactics in the 2000 season.

Coulthard, along with Jacques Villeneuve, was one of those most openly critical of the German.

Drivers know that they can be penalised if they are seen to make more than one move.

McLaren driver David Coulthard
Coulthard is fed up with Schumacher's tactics

In practice, though, this has never happened - and there continues to be a belief among the drivers that Schumacher gets away with underhand tactics more than anyone else.

Coulthard said he was not surprised that the first three races this season had seen first-lap shunts.

In the first race, Ralf Schumacher's Williams was sent flying after he rammed into the back of Rubens Barrichello's Ferrari in Australia.

Coulthard said: "I am not surprised by the incidents and I am not surprised by the stewards' decisions on incidents that, as clear as the balls on a dog, drivers should be penalised for and they haven't been.

"Then ones that a lot of people who have got experience of racing would say 'That's marginal, let's let it go,' drivers were penalised for."

Divided opinion

It is widely accepted that the stewards made a mistake when they penalised Montoya for his collision with Schumacher at the start of the race in Malaysia.

Most, including Montoya and Schumacher, believe it should have been treated as a typical consequence of hard but fair racing.

The incident in Brazil has divided opinion more severely.

Some believe Montoya should have been less impatient in his attempts to pass Schumacher; others side with Montoya and Coulthard.

Stewards decided the first-lap incident in which Montoya's Williams-BMW hit the rear of Schumacher's Ferrari as he tried to overtake was a racing one and did not take any action.


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