Schumacher punished once again

Michael Schumacher revived old memories for all the wrong reasons on Sunday when he was stripped of sixth place for illegally overtaking Ferrari's Fernando Alonso on the last corner of the Monaco Grand Prix.

Racing in the principality for the first time since 2006, when he was sent from pole position to the back of the starting grid, the seven-times champion's behaviour was once more the subject of a stewards' enquiry.

This time they included the German's old track rival Damon Hill, Britain's 1996 world champion, but the verdict was the same. Schumacher, making his comeback at the age of 41 and after three years out, was deemed to be in the wrong.

After lengthy deliberations, an announcement was made two-and-a-half hours after the race had ended that the stewards had imposed a drive-through penalty which had been converted into a 20-second addition to his total time.

That was enough to drop Schumacher, at least pending a Mercedes appeal that was lodged immediately after the verdict, out of the points to 12th place and moved Alonso up into sixth instead. The Spaniard is now third overall in the championship, three adrift of Red Bull's Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel.

Schumacher had barged past Alonso moments after the safety car, deployed after a crash at the slow Rascasse corner, had pulled off with only the final corner between the drivers and the chequered flag.

"My team told me no overtaking on the last lap," said Alonso, who had been close behind McLaren's Lewis Hamilton at the time. "They said the safety car would come into the pits, but that didn't mean I could overtake. I saw Lewis was very slow on the last lap, so I asked the team again whether they were sure I could not overtake because I was ready to pass him if I could. But the team repeated there was to be no overtaking, so when I saw Michael I was very surprised."

It was at Rascasse, barely 50 metres down the road from where Schumacher overtook on Sunday, that the German caused an uproar in 2006 qualifying. Then, as a Ferrari driver, he parked his Ferrari across the track and blocked it to deny Alonso pole position. Alonso went on to start that race from pole for Renault after the stewards punished Schumacher by sending him to the back of the grid.

Alonso started Sunday's race from the back of the grid after crashing his Ferrari in Saturday's final free practice.

"I got the message the track was clear," Schumacher told reporters. "The team told me on the radio the safety car had passed line one and I was allowed to overtake. The line is right in front of the entrance to the garages. The spot of the accident was clear, the cars were gone, so I don't see any reason why this should not be allowed."

The stewards ruled that Schumacher was in breach of Article 40.13 of the 2010 sporting Regulations which states: "If the race ends whilst the safety car is deployed it will enter the pit lane at the end of the last lap and the cars will take the chequered flag as normal without overtaking."