Just one mistake made the difference between first and second for Williams driver Juan-Pablo Montoya, who said he had a disastrous race.
Just one mistake made the difference between first and second for Williams driver Juan-Pablo Montoya, who said he had a disastrous race.
Montoya was leading when he spun his FW25 11 laps from the end, handing the win to McLaren’s David Coulthard.
“In spite of this good outcome I must say this was a pretty disastrous race for me. We started on dry tyres and this was an excellent decision, but then the safety car came out twice and just cancelled our advantage both times. Then when I finally got the lead again I went into turn one and simply went sideways when I picked up the throttle,” he said.
“It was absolutely my fault, but also the only mistake I made this weekend. In my second pit stop I did not change tyres as they were excellent and I was sure the car would be less competitive on new tyres. The last laps were very difficult as I felt a lot of pressure from Kimi Raikkonen.”
His team-mate, Ralf Schumacher, had a rough race and a long pit stop on lap 16 slowed him down while in third spot. “My race was over then,” Schumacher said. “It was obviously wonderful for the team to have achieved a podium in the first race, however, it is clear we still have a lot of work to do.
“However, I think we shouldn’t rely too much on today’s result. McLaren did a fantastic job and won the race despite starting on the wrong tyres. I found it strange that Ferrari too started on wet tyres,” he said.
“This was an exciting and turbulent race from the start to the end. We went for a good strategy but unfortunately Juan Pablo missed his chance of a victory,” said BMW sports director Gerhard Berger. “After his spin he defended his second place in a fantastic way. We are happy with this second place in the first race even if we could actually have won.”