White lines: Ralf, don't do it...

Ralf Schumacher's hopes of winning in front of a fervent home crowd at the Nurburgring disappeared at the end of his first pit-stop, when he was handed a stop-go penalty.

The punishment was assessed after the Williams driver crossed the white line that marks the boundary between pit-lane exit and track in his haste to keep touch with brother Michael, whose Ferrari had stopped at the same time. Until that point, the two had been running nose-to-tail after Ralf had caught Michael with a series of fastest laps once his Michelin tyres had 'come in'.

The penalty, however, undid all the hard work he put in to pass David Coulthard's one-stopping McLaren, and dropped the German back behind his Scottish rival. Even though Ralf made up the place when Coulthard made his single pit-stop, his own second call for fuel and tyres again left him trailing the McLaren, and having to accept a fourth place finish.

"I am extremely disappointed about the outcome of the race, as I had a chance to win in front of my home crowd," Ralf sighed, "However, under the circumstances, I have to be happy with fourth. As for the white line incident, I was looking in my mirrors when I left the pits, and obviously concentrated more on the traffic behind me than the line. I have to accept the penalty."

The stewards' decision was met with a mixture of disappointment and resignation both in the Williams pit and elsewhere, but the team has no intention of protesting the penalty.

"Ralf make a small mistake, it is disappointing but we have to respect the rules," said technical director Patrick Head.

"It's a pity the fight for the win was over with Ralf's penalty, but we have to obey the rules, and I think this one is important for safety reasons," agreed BMW motorsport director Dr Mario Theissen.

Family ties ran a little bit deeper, with brother Michael claiming the decision was a harsh one - even though it ensured he won the race without pressure from the Williams.

"It was obviously a hard decision for Ralf to get this stop-and-go penalty, for, as I heard, just half the car passing the white line. It's quite a strong decision, which destroyed his race. It is something you need to watch. I heard it was very close in terms of how much he actually crossed, but I remember some other things which have happened to me in the past, and I remember thinking that they were a bit hard, but these things are done sometimes. On the other side, if you know about it you should watch out, just like not hitting a wall or something else, but a stop-and-go is a pretty hard decision."