Schumacher weight concerns

Michael Schumacher was at the centre of a new cheating storm last night, hours after being thrown out of the Brazillian Grand Prix.

Motor racing bosses launched an inquiry after world champion Schumacher weighed in at 71.5 kg after the race - 5.5 kg less than his pre-season weight. The difference could have given him a ten-second advantage.

Officials were last night determined to close the latest loophole in Formula One's complex rules.

FIA chiefs, who took the unusual step of weighing Schumacher on Sunday were obviously suspicious that the German had lost so much in less than a week. The combined weight of Schumacher and his car, in fact, turned out to be legal but the clear implication is that drivers could be builing up before the season and shedding weight before each race.

If a driver were to weigh more at the start of the season than when actually driving the car, the difference could be interpreted as a weight advantage, pointed out one leading team source "it seems very fishy" he said.

Schumacher joked that he ate too much chocolate and apfelstrudel before his pre-season weigh-on saying: "I have put on three or four kilos over the winter. I had a good dinner before the weigh-in and I wore my heaviest socks and underwear"

Taken from an article in the Daily Express, by Bob McKenzie

--- This article was taken from Formula One On-Line =========================================================================== || Richard Mundell || Visit the Formula One On-Line web-pages at || ||=====================|| http://www.sys.uea.ac.uk/~u9427082 || || r.mundell@uea.ac.uk || with race results, news, files and statistics || ===========================================================================