Head: Montoya Not a Dirty Driver

Williams-BMW technical director Patrick Head on Sunday denied that Juan Pablo Montoya had deliberately rammed Michael Schumacher out of the Monaco Grand Prix as the World Champion's winning run came to an end.

Schumacher had been searching for a record sixth successive victory at the start of a season, but he exited the race in bizarre fashion when he braked behind the Safety Car and Montoya nudged him into the wall in the tunnel.

But Head denied that Montoya, who has not always seen eye-to-eye with Schumacher, caused the incident.

"No matter what Michael or Ross (Brawn) might think, Juan is not a dirty driver," Head said. "He knows what respecting a fellow driver is and there were no dirty tricks. Juan has said that Michael put the brakes on hard and I don't think that is a wise thing to do in a dark tunnel. The stewards have asked to see both of them."

Ferrari's technical director Ross Brawn believed Schumacher had an outside chance of snatching victory from Renault's Jarno Trulli after strategy had got the World Champion up to third behind Jenson Button.

Schumacher had been at the head of the field behind the Safety Car, with Trulli and Button both having made their second pitstops, and was attempting to warm his brakes up.

"It was very unfortunate," said Brawn. "You don't want to go out of a race for that reason. We were informed that the Safety Car was coming in and it is normal to warm your brakes up. Juan Pablo hit the back of him.

"We had a chance of winning the race, not a great one but a chance. We had a lot of fuel left in the car and it may have been possible. It is very frustrating to go out like that."