Former F1 driver Derek Warwick, who was serving on the race steward panel for the weekend, says Michael Schumacher came close to being disqualified from the Hungarian Grand Prix over his swerve toward Rubens Barrichello.
Warwick said the reason why Schumacher was not black-flagged for his move on Rubens Barrichello was because there was no time left in the race.
"Throwing a black flag would have shown a better example to our young drivers," Warwick told Britain's BBC. "But, by the time we got the video evidence, we ran out of time and we had to do it retrospectively."
Schumacher was given a 10-place grid penalty for the next race in Belgium for illegitimately impeding Barrichello.
Warwick said he had been disappointed by how Schumacher had handled the affair when interviewed after the race.
"We interviewed Rubens and Michael and it was kind of disappointing how Michael handled it, and we had no option but to give him a 10-place penalty," added Warwick. "If we had enough laps [we could have disqualified him] but you have to have video evidence and make sure all four stewards are in agreement."
He added: "You have to view the evidence you have and you could disqualify him from the next grand prix, or two grands prix. But we felt a 10-place penalty is a big penalty to carry for Spa. It kind of puts him out of the race at Spa, and hopefully he will learn from that and remember that the new stewards will not tolerate that driving."
On Monday, Schumacher apologized to Barrichello for his move.