Williams duo give views on clash

The incident happened at the start of the second lap when Montoya attempted to pass Schumacher on the outside into Turn 1. The German lost the rear end of his car under braking and tapped the Colombian.

Montoya dropped to seventh after a trip across the grass, but recovered to finish fourth. Schumacher lost his rear wing and had to pit for a new one. He finished 16th and last.

"In the second lap I was passing Ralf and I braked late," explained Montoya. "I was going round the outside and suddenly he hit me. I think he braked a lot later."

Schumacher said: "It is always difficult to pass anyone on the outside. There wasn't a lot of room there at all. Anyway, before giving an accurate opinion I should have a proper look at the TV images first. Most important is that such things should not happen between team-mates no matter who's responsible. It was very annoying that I had been pushed so far back, as my car today was really good."

Montoya later made a mistake with a pitstop when he mis-read a signal and came in too early.

But on the bright side, his fourth place was enough to give Williams-BMW second place in the constructors' championship. Nearest rival McLaren-Mercedes cannot catch the team in the final race of the season in Japan.