Michael Schumacher has accused Heinz-Harald Frentzen of bringing Formula One into disrepute following the Jordan driver's recent claims that he believed Ferrari and Sauber were running with traction control systems at the Australian Grand Prix a fortnight ago.

Frentzen finished the Melbourne race in fifth place behind Sauber's Nick Heidfeld and after the race the Jordan driver insisted he could hear the Ferrari-powered Sauber misfiring as power was deactivated, a sign, he said, that the car was equipped with the traction control systems that are not due to be legally reintroduced until the Spanish Grand Prix at the end of April.

Having accused Sauber of running the illegal system, Frentzen admitted to German tabloid Bild he believed Ferrari had run the system last year as well.

"I give you an unconditional statement, in the past 18 races I had plenty of opportunity to trail behind Ferrari cars or machinery powered by Ferrari engines. And one thing was particularly remarkable, out of tight corners, these cars had a pretty stunning acceleration, combined with a misfiring engine.

"For me, it is beyond doubt that somehow Ferrari managed to develop engine software, which reduces the power by a certain margin to the extent that the driven wheels don't spin."

Yesterday, as the drivers arrived in Kuala Lumpur for the upcoming Malaysian Grand Prix, world champion Michael Schumacher rubbished the Jordan star's claims and said his remarks only damaged the sport.

"If he feels there is something strange then he has the right to make a protest to clarify it," said Schumacher. "But just to make the rumour brings the sport a lot of disrepute and bad criticism. I think he puts F1 into quite a lot of dispute. He makes the FIA a joke if he makes these kind of statements."

Schumacher added that Frentzen should look to his own performance rather than criticise the cars in front of him.

"We invest millions of dollars into projects to get the best performance out of the car and just to make this stupid comment is completely unfair and he should really rethink what he is saying," he said.

"He should concentrate on his own car and look to his own performance and not say we are doing something wrong."

Heidfeld, who held Frentzen at bay for the final 10 laps of the Australian Grand Prix to secure his first championship points admitted he had been dismayed by the Jordan number one's comments, saying it had taken something away from what he believed had been a good performance by both he and Sauber.

"It's very difficult for the whole team, for me and I guess for Ferrari to say anything that makes us look better again," said the 22-year-old, who, like Frentzen, comes from Moenchengladbach in western Germany "He didn't say it was illegal so what can we do. If somebody thinks something is illegal they go to the FIA and then we'll see. Actually our car is legal and that's it."

Aside from drivers' concerns about the implementation of illegal traction controls, this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix may come under FIA scrutiny as safety within the sport is examined in the wake of the death of marshal Graham Beveridge at the Australian race.

Since the tragic accident Formula One has been swamped by calls for the sport to be made safer and the cars slower. Yesterday, however, David Coulthard called for calm and said that knee-jerk reactions should be avoided at all costs.

"If there hadn't been a fatality at the last race we wouldn't be having this conversation over the last couple of weeks, because none of us were complaining that the cars were going too fast," said the McLaren driver. "We were enjoying driving the car and it was just tragic circumstances that led to the spotlight being put back on the cars."