Montoya rubbishes Schuey attack

Schumacher had run across the kerbs at the opening corner after braking slightly too late and had managed to overtake Montoya in the process. The newly crowned world champion duly slowed down to let the Williams through so that he did not get penalised for gaining an unfair advantage, but Montoya did not instantly swoop through - prompting allegations that he had deliberately slowed down.

Speaking straight after the race, Schumacher said: "At the first chicane I just couldn't stop the car in time. I had to run straight and I then slowed down to let Juan get through.

"Juan played a little bit smart and slowed down himself to make it look like I was gaining an advantage. Anyway, I kept on going."

But Montoya laughed off the allegations and claimed that he had tried to get past the Ferrari as quickly as possible but had been prevented because his car lacked traction on the damp track.

"He says I backed off? That's rubbish," Montoya told Autosport.com. "I didn't get any traction. I was flat on the throttle and I just sat there thinking, 'I cannot believe it.' The car wasn't going anywhere because there was just no grip."