Montoya: Race Won at the Start
British Grand Prix winner Juan Pablo Montoya said he was willing to take more risks than Championship leader Fernando Alonso after the two wheel-to-wheel duels that helped him storm to victory at Silverstone
Montoya ran side-by-side with Alonso through Copse Corner at the start of the race before seizing the lead into Becketts, and later on pulled off an almost identical move after the first round of pitstops.
And after being able to control the race from the front following those moves, Montoya hailed his great start from third on the grid to power past Alonso as the key moment of the afternoon.
"You know yesterday in qualifying being one of the first cars to run was really hard," said Montoya. "Even though I knew we had the potential to do a good lap, that [at the start] is where the race was won.
"I knew Fernando could not race too much and I could risk some more."
Montoya had no major complaints about the handling of his car through the race, despite being unable to lap at the pace of his teammate Kimi Raikkonen who charged through from 12th on the grid to finish third.
"In the first half of the race I had a bit of understeer and could not push too much," explained the Colombian. "We had great strategy and we came in a lap early at the first stop. It was close (with Alonso) but it was enough.
"In the first sector as well, especially Turn 1, the car was quite oversteery and I had some big moments going into Becketts. Normally if you lose it there it is a big shunt so to lose just half a tenth wasn't worth it.
"But then I worked to open up a gap and Fernando had a bit of traffic which helped."
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