Schumacher to face the heat in driver meeting

SILVERSTONE, England, June 8 (Reuters) Michael Schumacher's Formula One rivals will put Ferrari's former champion on the spot in a face-to-face meeting at the British Grand Prix tomorrow.

The seven times world champion triggered uproar two weeks ago in Monaco, where he was stripped of pole position and sent to the back for a qualifying 'mistake' that some openly condemned as blatant cheating.

The German continued to insist today that he had made an honest mistake.

''What happened, has happened,'' he told reporters at Silverstone. ''I feel sorry in a way that it had to happen but certain things simply do happen.

''If somebody wants me to go down on my knees and beg for something, I think that would be rather ridiculous.'' Tomorrow's meeting of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA), of which Schumacher is a director and prominent funder, could be a lively one.

Former champion Jacques Villeneuve, who had an infamous run-in with the German in the 1997 title-deciding race, suggested Schumacher's position was untenable.

''I have no idea what will happen in the meeting but I can't imagine any plausible explanation,'' he said. ''Sometimes in life you just have to bite the bullet and admit you've been an idiot.

''Everybody makes mistakes at critical moments but then you have to be big enough to just say 'Oops, sorry guys, that was really stupid of me and it was embarrassing' and life carries on,'' added the newly-married Canadian.

''If you try and make people believe that actually you didn't do it on purpose then actually you just look (stupid).

''Personally I am not happy that someone can run the GPDA and act like that.'' POSSIBLE VOTE Briton David Coulthard, a GPDA director, rejected a suggestion that the drivers could vote Schumacher out.

''We are stronger in our opinions and can influence more the future of the sport...if we are united,'' he said.

''I think the Monaco event should just be taken as it was -- Michael got his punishment and anyone who wants to discuss it can, but otherwise we should get on with the business of track safety and driver safety.

''You need a majority (to vote him off) but I simply don't believe that will be the case. The outcome I don't believe will be anything different to what we have today.'' Coulthard hoped also that those who had been ''quick to give their opinion to the masses'' would be man enough to look Schumacher in the eye and tell him what they thought.

''We'll find out tomorrow who's prepared to do that when we are all sitting around the table,'' he said.

Whatever the atmosphere, Schumacher will face no Spanish inquisition.

Renault's world champion Fernando Alonso, championship leader and winner in Monaco after being handed pole position by the stewards, said he would skip the meeting.

Asked why he had not attended them in the past either, the 24-year-old Spaniard replied simply: ''Sometimes no time, sometimes no interest.'' REUTERS PM PM2248