Schumacher remains F1 drivers' representative

SILVERSTONE, England, June 10 (Reuters) Ferrari's Michael Schumacher has retained his role as a Formula One drivers' leader after a clear-the-air meeting with rivals.

The seven times world champion faced some pointed questions about his controversial Monaco qualifying at a meeting of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association at Silverstone yesterday.

The German created an uproar in Monaco two weeks ago when stewards stripped him of pole position and sent him to the back of the starting grid for deliberately preventing others from beating his time.

''I don't want to say too much about what the discussion was, but we are still represented by the three main directors,'' fellow GPDA director David Coulthard told reporters after the half-hour gathering at the British Grand Prix.

''Of course there was a bit of tension to start with,'' the Scot added. ''People just need to sit down with each other and in the end it was a very productive meeting.'' ''Everyone has their individual opinion of what happened in Monaco and is comfortable with what the stewards did.

''It was good to clear the air over the 'he said, she said' of the last two weeks and everyone is unanimous in that we are together and that we want to move forward and Michael is a major player in that.'' The Scot added, however, that there could be a change in the GPDA leadership later in the year. Toyota's Italian Jarno Trulli is the third director with Coulthard and Schumacher.

''Turkey (in August) will be a point where we nominate whether the three directors continue or whether we change,'' Coulthard said.

''Personally I think it is good to see change because then the reactive role of the GPDA keeps getting moved along.'' REUTERS PDS PM1524