After today's Spanish Grand Prix, Rubens Barrichello's Stewart-Ford, in which he had finished eighth, was found not to conform to the regulations and was excluded from the event. Barrichello didn't score points anyway, so the exercise is largely academic.

The problem arose from the fixings of the wooden plank which all cars carry underneath the monocoque and which has to be flat and level. One of these fixings had failed, so that the plank was hanging down. The scrutineers said that they were "quite concerned at the size and weight of the fastener used, because of its potential to be extremely dangerous in the event of it becoming detached from the skid block."

Stewart were unconcerned by what had happened and the penalty, particularly as they didn't score World Championship points, but said they will take steps to prevent it from happening again.