German's weight loss may be `unfair'

MOTOR RACING

BY DAVID TREMAYNE

The Benetton and Williams teams appealed yesterday over the disqualification of Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard from their first and second places in Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix following fuel irregularities. However, the first controversy of the 1995 Formula One season was already in danger of being superseded by a second one, this time concerning drivers' weight.

Schumacher is one of a number of drivers who may be accused of manipulating new regulations to gain what might be considered an unfair advantage. Under rules brought in this season, each driver and car must not exceed 595kg (1,309lb).

When Schumacher was weighed last Thursday his weight was found to have risen from the 69kg he weighed last year to 77kg. However reports from So Paulo last night suggested that when Schumacher was weighed again after the race, he was found to be considerably lighter than he was on Thursday.

Schumacher denied he was manipulating his weight. "I have put on some extra kilos this winter from good training to build up my muscles," he said. Other drivers whose weight has increased over the winter include the Austrian Gerhard Berger, who rose from 74kg to 80, and Heinz-Harold Frentzen, of Germany, who went up from 62 to 68.5.

In a statement concerning their appeal on behalf of Coulthard, Williams pointed out that Elf, the French supplier of the suspect fuel, "has been supplying grand prix racing since 1968 without a break, far longer than any other fuel company".

The statement went on: "There are three issues with regard to the decision that will be considered: (1) Subsequent to its technical approval by the FIA, [the sport's governing body], an incorrect batch of fuel was sent to Brazil, or (2) the test equipment used in Brazil to check the fuel malfunctioned, or (3) the above equipment was incorrectly operated."

Williams appeared to accept the possibility of a faulty batch by saying: "In the event of item one, there will be no contest." However, the statement concluded, if the team felt (2) or (3) to be the case "the appeal will be heard shortly after the Argentinian Grand Prix", which takes place on 9 April.

Earlier, Elf issued a statement saying that samples of the fuel intended for use in the race, "were submitted well in advance to FIA, as required by the regulations. The samples were approved by the FIA. The detailed information regarding the results of the analyses of fuels sampled are not yet available. The analysis is an extremely complex process; the conditions and circumstances in which the fuel samples were analysed have not yet been established. Any comment by Elf in the absence of these facts would be premature."

Although both drivers insist they were unaware of the possibility that the fuel they were about to race with might not be legitimate, their teams did know. It is thought that Frank Williams' reaction was to threaten to withdraw his cars from the race, but he and the Benetton chief, Flavio Briatore, were dissuaded from such a course of action.

However Berger, who was awarded the race, showed no sympathy for the disqualified drivers last night. He said: "I am very happy about this decision. I don't feel sorry for Michael or David because cheating is cheating. But I am sorry it is Renault involved because I didn't think they would do this.

"I noticed relatively early on in the race that something wasn't right. All the cars are about the same level of performance except those with Renault motors. They are in a world of their own. I don't know if that's down to the fuel, but...Violation of the rules on fuel is no small matter."

"It was a ridiculous situation," Ross Brawn, Benetton's technical director, said in So Paulo late on Sunday just before the disqualifications had been confirmed. "We were told on Sunday morning that there was a problem with the batches of fuel we had used in free practice on Saturday and thus, by inference, with the fuel we were about to race with. That's all the fuel we had; and there was no question of being able to drain it from the cars and the refuelling rigs in time before the start."

For the first time in Brazil, the FIA was using its fuel sampling equipment, and when it discovered discrepancies in samples taken from Coulthard's Williams on Friday afternoon, and Schumacher's Benetton on Saturday morning, it was prepared to be lenient. Rather than cancel their practice times, it fined each team $30,000 (£19,000). After the race it took further samples from both cars, and after prolonged analysis in the paddock that evening, declared that these new samples did not match the approved specification either.

Any suggestion that testing procedures were at fault in So Paulo was denied by an FIA spokesman, who said its portable laboratory could not be blamed for the different chemical "fingerprints" of the fuel. "It's a proper piece of professional machinery, and it's pure speculation to question its accuracy. You just can't argue with it," he said.

Elf personnel were noticeable by their low profile in the Interlagos paddock on Sunday evening, and the French fuel giant was said to be still considering its position yesterday.

Damon Hill said: "The mood in the team is that in some ways this is a bad thing. In others ways it isn't so bad, as Michael is also disqualified so in some respects we are back to square one.''

This may be more a matter of a minor discrepancy having serious repercussions, rather than a blatant attempt to extort a performance advantage by cheating, but if further analysis upholds the original findings, the exclusions of Schumacher and Coulthard will most likely be upheld even following appeal.