OK, here's how it goes.
The SC pulled aside on lap 49 (out of 60). The incident occured that lap.
Now let's read the Sporting Regs, as it was written in 1998:
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57) Should the stewards decide to impose a time penalty, the following procedure will be followed :
a) The stewards shall, no later than twenty-five minutes after the moment at which the Incident occurred, give written notification of the time penalty which has been imposed to an official of the team concerned. Notification of the penalty, which will include the time at which the steward's decision was made, will also be displayed on the timing monitors.
b) Subject to e) below, from the time the steward's decision is notified on the timing monitors the relevant driver may cover no more than three complete laps before entering the pits and proceeding to his pit where he shall remain for the period of the time penalty.
During the time the car is stationary it may not be worked on unless the engine stops, in which case it may be started after the time penalty period has elapsed.
c) When the time penalty period has elapsed the driver may rejoin the race.
d) Any breach or failure to comply with Articles 57 b) or 57 c) may result in the car being excluded.
e) If an Incident for which a time penalty is imposed occurs with 12 or less complete laps remaining to the finish of the race, the stewards shall have the right to add the time penalty to the elapsed time of the driver concerned.
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The rule e) is a bit stupid though: does the 'concerned driver' have to enter his pit, but he's not obliged to do that in less that 3 laps from the notification, or he doesn't and in that case he will get the penalty time added to the total time? I don't suppose that both of them, which is completely unfair, to be punished twice for the same offence. Anyway, Michael Schumacher did nothing wrong. He entered the pits in the last lap, which also was in the 'no more than 3 laps' frame. (the final notification came with 2 laps to go)
After that incident, the article 57) was changed to his current form:
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55) The stewards may impose any one of two penalties on any driver involved in an Incident:
a) A drive-through penalty. The driver must enter the pit lane and re-join the race without stopping at the pit;
b) A ten-second time penalty. The driver must enter the pit lane, stop at his pit for at least ten seconds and then re-join the race.
However, should any of the above penalties be imposed during the last five laps, or after the end of a race, Article 56b) below will not apply and 25 seconds will be added to the elapsed race time of the driver concerned.
56) Should the stewards decide to impose a time penalty, the following procedure will be followed :
a) The stewards will give written notification of the time penalty which has been imposed to an official of the team concerned and will ensure that this information is also displayed on the timing monitors.
b) From the time the steward’s decision is notified on the timing monitors the relevant driver may cover no more than three complete laps before entering the pits and proceeding to his pit where he shall remain for the period of the time penalty. Whilst a car is stationary in the pits as a result of incurring a time penalty it may not be worked on. However, if the engine stops it may be started after the time penalty period has elapsed.
c) When the time penalty period has elapsed the driver may rejoin the race.
d) Any breach or failure to comply with Articles 56 b) or 56 c) may result in the car being excluded.
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Which is a lot better.
The technicallity that we were talking about (at least me..
) was the paragraph a) from the article 57. The notification did NOT came in proper form and was NOT displayed on the timig monitors. (and yes Jasongore, it did arrive in time, I believe. Not sure though). The second notification, which was OK did not, so the stewards completely removed the time penalty. But that happened several hours later.
PS: That's the 2002 Sporting Regs, which introduced the 'drive through' penalty.