Schumacher, Brawn, confident Alonso pass was legal

Michael Schumacher and Ross Brawn are confident there will no post-race penalty applied by the stewards in the wake of a controversial last-lap incident.

The seven time world champion passed Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso at the last corner of Sunday’s Monaco grand prix, after the safety car that had been deployed for the Jarno Trulli/Karun Chandhok crash pulled into the pits.

There is a new rule in 2010 that allows overtaking between the safety car line and the finish line.

Where the confusion arises is that if a race finishes under the safety car, there is no overtaking allowed even though the safety car itself pulls into the pits.

“We were advised before the end of the race that the safety car was coming in,” Brawn told the BBC.  “There was no instruction that the race was going to finish under the safety car.”

Schumacher told German television RTL: “We saw the message ‘Track Clear’ officially on screen two.  So that means the safety car goes in and the race is back on.”

The 41-year-old laughed that it is “interesting” that his former nemesis Damon Hill is the driver-steward this weekend.

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