Barrichello: I gave Montoya enough room

Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello is steadfast in his belief that he gave Williams-BMW's Juan Pablo Montoya enough racing room before the collision that began a catalogue of disaster for the Colombian in the US Grand Prix and removed him from the championship battle

Sep 29, 2003, 11:48 AM

After watching a video of the incident, Barrichello said: "I thought I had given Juan enough space. I went into the corner and all of a sudden, I felt a bang. I had given him space into Turn 2, running on the outside, just hoping to get better traction.

"Montoya touched the kerb, which was damp and he slid down into me. Or he didn't want to lift, because the space was there. He wasn't on the grass or anything like that. I didn't want to turn into the corner so I went wide but even so, he still touched me."

The Ferrari number two would not be drawn on whether he thought Montoya deserved to be penalised with a drive-through penalty, however.

"That's not for me to say," he offered, "I know how crucial it was for the championship but I didn't want anything bad to happen for anyone."