The pass was legitimate. The mistake lies with the FIA bringing the safety car in with lights off and green flags. I would expect that in a situation where the race finishes under safety car, the lights should remain on, and yellow flags with SC boards should be displayed to the finish line, despite the car pulling into the pits.
The case here was that the race was technically resumed, and so due to the new rules this year, the pass was legitimate.
You have to admire the tact of Schumacher, he's ultra competitive and has his brain engaged even at the very end. I know a lot of people don't like him, but you still have to admire how well he knows this game. He never fails to impress me and cause controversy at the same time!
What I don't dispute is that the pass is almost against the spirit of the rules. I'm not sure how much weight that carries, but rules are there to be pushed and bent, that's for sure.
I think this is the wrong decision. I’d be interested to know on what grounds this is based, as my interpretation (a literal interpretation) would say the pass was legitimate.
At worst they should have swapped the places back, not a 20sec penalty. It was the race directors fault for bringing in the car and not finishing under SC, I don’t know why Schumacher is punished for that. He drove a solid race and doesn’t deserve to be demoted to 12th. Harsh, I wonder how much Damon Hill had to do with the decision.
My respect for the race stewards (who've been pretty good this year) is now lost. I can understand ruling against, but such a harsh penalty was unnecessary.