Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher both missed out on setting a second flying lap in the closing stages of Q3 following an incident at the final chicane.
As the McLaren driver slowed at the chicane to create a gap to his teammate ahead, he was passed by Mark Webber and Schumacher at the same time on either side which forced the German into the grass.
Hamilton branded Schumacher’s move as ‘dangerous’, whilst the seven-time champion called Hamilton’s pace into thr corner, ‘stupid’.
“It was a bit stupid, at the last chicane everybody was driving so slow,” said Schumacher. “I saw my time and knew I had to go quicker – but I didn’t make it by a second.
“I had Webber in front; he had to slow down because Hamilton slowed down, but I don’t know what he had to slow down for. He pushed me out onto the grass.”
Meanwhile, Hamilton saw the incident differently, saying it was a strange incident, which saw him miss out on a second lap by just 1.4 seconds.
“Jenson was in front of me, he slowed down to get his gap and I was coming to the last corner trying to make sure I had a gap between him and me,” said Hamilton.
“I was coming into the chicane, I looked in the mirror and saw Mark diving inside me and then I didn’t see Michael but he came past me and we nearly crashed with me to the left. It was very, very strange and that’s why I lost the last lap. It was quite dangerous.”
