Ralf Schumacher

Imola: Toyota?s Ralf Schumacher was stripped of eighth place in Sunday?s San Marino Grand Prix after race stewards added 25 seconds to his time for a pit-stop incident.

The team said they would appeal against the decision which demoted Ralf to 11th and lifted fellow-German Nick Heidfeld, in a Williams, to eighth place instead.

?In view of the extremely vague description of the regulation and a number of similar incidents which have gone unpunished, Toyota has decided to appeal the decision of the stewards in order to clarify this issue for the future,? said team boss Tsutumu Tomita.

No time was set for the appeal hearing.

Toyota remained second in the championship with 27 points to Renault?s 46.

Stewards said Toyota had released Ralf from his second pitstop before it was safe to do so. ?At the last pit-stop Ralf Schumacher got in front of me by forcing me to brake hard and avoid a crash,? said Heidfeld.

Ralf had earlier praised the team: ?The eighth place arrived because we had such a perfect pitstop and we were able to catch the Williams in the pits,? said the German.

RESULTS

1. Fernando Alonso (Renault); 2. Michael Schumacher (Ferrari); 3. Jenson Button (BAR); 4. Alexander Wurz (McLaren); 5. Takuma Sato (BAR); 6. Jacques Villeneuve (Sauber); 7. Jarno Trulli (Toyota); 8. Nick Heidfeld (Williams); 9. Mark Webber (Williams); 10. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Red Bull); 11. Ralf Schumacher (Toyota); 12. Felipe Massa (Sauber); 13. David Coulthard (Red Bull); 14. Narain Karthikeyan (Jordan); 15. Tiago Monteiro (Jordan)

STANDINGS (TOP 10)

Drivers ? 1. Fernando Alonso (Renault) 36; 2. Jarno Trulli (Toyota) 18; 3. Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault) 10; 4. Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) 10; 5. Ralf Schumacher (Toyota) 9; 6. David Coulthard (Red Bull) 9; 7. Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari) 8; 8. Juan Pablo Montoya (McLaren) 8; 9. Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren) 7; 10. Nick Heidfeld (Williams) 7; 11. Mark Webber (Williams) 7; 12. Jenson Button (BAR) 6; 13. Alexander Wurz (McLaren) 5; 14. Takuma Sato (BAR) 4; 15. Pedro de la Rosa (McLaren) 4.

Constructors ? 1. Renault 46; 2. Toyota 27; 3. McLaren-Mercedes 24; 4. Ferrari 18; 5. Williams-BMW 14; 6. Red-Bull-Cosworth 12; 7. BAR-Honda 10; 8. Sauber-Petronas 5; 9. Jordan-Toyota 0; 10. Minardi-Cosworth 0.