"The stewards' ruling confirmed the belief of most observers than he had feigned a loss of control, halting his Ferrari on the track and stalling its engine in order to impede the efforts of rivals who were making a last effort to displace him from pole position, His reputation, however, lies in ruins. When Schumacher protested his innocence at the subsequent press conference, he looked out into a sea of faces ranging from the sceptical to the derisively disbelieving."
Schumacher gave a less than convincing defence. "I have to admit that certain things must have looked a bit curious from the outside but there were reasons for that and I don't really want to elaborate on it. It's not really anyone else's business even."