Barrichello hits out at Schumacher over 'dangerous manoeuvre'

"I like fair battle but I don't think it was fair," the Williams driver told Germany's RTL television after the seven-times world champion forced him perilously close to the wall and off track in a Hungarian Grand Prix duel.

"It was a go-kart manoeuvre. If he wants to go to heaven before me he can; I don't want to go to heaven," added Brazilian Barrichello, who spent six years at Ferrari with Schumacher where the German regularly benefited from preferential treatment.

On the social network Twitter, Barrichello described Schumacher's action as "the most dangerous manoeuvre against me that I have ever known".

Soon after the race, Schumacher was handed a ten-place penalty on the starting grid for the next race - the Belgian Grand Prix at the end of the month - as a result of the incident.

The governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) said in a statement the four race stewards had ruled that the Mercedes driver had "illegitimately impeded" Barrichello during an overtaking manoeuvre.

Schumacher will be relegated ten positions from wherever he qualifies at Spa on 28 August.

Barrichello went past for tenth place and the final point late in the race while Schumacher, making a Formula 1 comeback at the age of 41 and after three years in retirement, was 11th in yesterday's race.

Schumacher was dismissive of Barrichello's complaint.

"We know certain drivers have certain views, and then there's Rubens," he told the BBC.

"As far as I was concerned there was enough room for him to get through there. But it's clear that I wanted to make life for him as difficult as possible," he told RTL.

Barrichello urged his 469,000 followers on Twitter to make their feelings clear.

"I'll let the stewards say whatever they have to say. His view is always that I'm a big crier and so on. I would like the public to vote, tell me on Twitter (@rubarrichello)."