The International Motorsport Federation (FIA), motor racing’s governing body, came down hard on the seven-time champion after finding him guilty of "deliberately stopping his car in the middle of the track."

In a statement released after an exhaustive eight-hour inquiry, officials said they had no doubt Schumacher had stopped on purpose.

"Having compared all relevant data the race stewards can find no justifiable reason for the driver to have braked with such undue, excessive and unusual pressure at this part of the circuit, and are therefore left with no alternative but to conclude that the driver deliberately stopped his car on the circuit in the last few minutes of qualifying," a FIA statement said.

The German Ferrari driver faced a barrage of cheating accusations from his fellow drivers and rival team managers who claimed he’d stalled on purpose in the dying seconds of qualifying to defend his lead.

The most famous grand prix of the season was plunged into controversy when Schumacher, already assured of his 67th pole, parked his car on the track at the Rascasse hairpin — bringing out yellow flags and denying world champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso, the chance to topple him.

Alonso was on an apparently faster lap than the German but his Renault and the cars of the drivers in his wake were forced to slow down to avoid Schumacher’s car.

Schumacher insisted that he had done nothing wrong.

"No, I didn’t cheat — and I think it is pretty tough to be asked if I did," he said.

The 37-year-old claimed he had attempted to find reverse, when he realized his car was stranded on the racing line of the circuit, but the gear did not engage.

"I didn’t really want to back up just by myself without knowing what was coming around the corner and finally, it stalled," he said.

But his former Benetton team chief, now boss at Alonso’s Renault team, Flavio Briatore, vehemently disagreed.

"I think he is taking everyone for a ride. Someone who was seven times a world champion wants us to believe that he didn’t do it on purpose. It’s fairyland."

Alonso, stony-faced after the session, was clearly livid and like most paddock observers could hardly believe that Schumacher had deliberately stopped on the track to gain an advantage in that way.

"For sure, I’d have been on pole if I did not see the yellow flags. I was three-tenths (of a second) up on the lap until then. I am not going to give my true opinion on the matter here though. It is not the right place or time," said the Spaniard.

Schumacher has often courted controversy in his 15-years career in Formula One, most famously when he crashed into Briton Damon Hill in the decisive season-ending 1994 Australian Grand Prix to win his first drivers’ title.