> Schumacher sympathy for Alonso in Monza

Michael Schumacher has admitted having "compassion" for his title rival Fernando Alonso when the eventual world champion was docked five grid places at Monza.

The Renault ace reacted by declaring 'F1 no longer a sport' after he was deemed to have hindered Felipe Massa's flying lap in qualifying and subsequently punished by the stewards.

But Schumacher said in an interview with German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung’s magazine on Friday that he could empathise with this reaction when looking back at moments in his own career.

Schumacher was disqualified from the 1994 British Grand Prix after failing to observe a black flag for overtaking Damon Hill on the warm-up lap.

"I didn’t ignore the black flag," he said.

"I hadn’t seen it. I am not saying I hadn’t made a mistake but so did the FIA. And I couldn’t understand why I should be the scapegoat.

"It was totally normal in Formula 1 in those days to [go past the leader on formation lap]….and the usual punishment would have been to be sent back to the grid.

"But that didn’t happen," he added.

"My impression at the time was that it was a set-up and I should have been the scapegoat.

"We had a big lead in the championship and a lot of people were happy about us getting this penalty. It turned into a real trend against us. The way Flavio Briatore dealt with it didn’t really help either.

"You swim against a current that is so strong that despite being really strong, you can say what you want nobody is interested.

"With same distance now I can also say that you tend to look at those events from a different angle now, you don’t just see your own side.

"Maybe that’s going to happen to Fernando Alonso too."

Schumacher explained that memories of this came flooding back to him when he saw Alonso's explosive response to the penalty in the Renault motorhome on race morning in Italy.

"When he thought he was punished unjustly by the FIA, when he thought there was a conspiracy against him, I had a lot of compassion for him," he said.

"I understood his reaction because it reminded me of 1994.

"I told him that after the race in Monza when we met at airport in Geneva."

As always, Schumi shows he is a true champion.