Championship Far from Over, Says Brawn

Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn praised the performance of Monaco Grand Prix winner David Coulthard and insisted the result proves the title race is far from over.

The Italian World Champions were heavily criticised for their decision to force Rubens Barrichello to allow Michael Schumacher to win in Austria two weeks ago. But Brawn claimed that McLaren driver Coulthard's victory in Monaco proves that Ferrari were right in their tactical decision - because the Championship dogfight is far from complete.

"It is never over and you saw this weekend that we were beaten," Brawn said. "People thought that we would walk this race but we didn't get it right this weekend and you have seen the result so it is far from over."

He added that despite Schumacher finishing second to Coulthard, their title aspirations have not been dented because the six points for second place have increased their advantage in both the drivers' and manufacturers' standings.

"It's always disappointing (to finish second) when you have the best car in the race," he added. "Really we paid the price for the start and qualifying which David did a super job of.

"He made a great start and really was very good. When Montoya ran into trouble and held us back, David built up a cushion and we couldn't do anything about it. They reacted quite sensibly to our pit-stops and that really finished the race for us.

"But obviously second is pretty good and it is another six points for Michael and a few more points over Ralf and we are better off in the Constructors'."

Schumacher, winner of five out of seven races this year, leads the Championship by a massive 33 points over Williams drivers Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher.