Brawn: We tried something different

His counterpart at Williams, Patrick Head, had said he thought the world champions opted for two stops because of brake wear problems on the F1-2001, but Brawn refused to confirm this, instead saying the strategy was employed to beat William's powerful BMW engine.

"We'd been trounced at Hockenheim," Brawn told Autosport.com, "and I didn't really see the point in following a couple of ultra-quick BMWs down the straight. The championship is finished and we thought we'd have some fun out there... and see what happened."

Brawn said that while the strategy didn't work for Michael Schumacher, it worked well for team mate Rubens Barrichello, who could have had a shot at victory had the team not encountered refuelling problems during the Brazilian's first pit stop.

"Rubens with a two-stopper, it worked out fine," he said. "I think what would have happened (had there been no problem with his pitstop) is that he would have been on the back of Montoya. Everyone thought Williams would walk away with it. Apart from a glitch at one of out pit stops, we might have made even more of a race of it than we did."

For full Ross Brawn Q&A click here.