Montoya, Raikkonen Relish Wheel-to-Wheel Battle

Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya and Finn Kimi Raikkonen were delighted to get back to some real racing on Sunday when they enjoyed a titanic wheel-to-wheel battle on the 11th lap of the German Grand Prix.

Raikkonen, of McLaren-Mercedes, had passed Montoya's Williams-BMW on the run down to the first corner at the start, but the Colombian hounded his young rival and the chase built into a crescendo on lap 11.

The pair, both in their second year of Formula One, briefly had one of the battles of the season as they tussled for fourth place around the newly re-built Hockenheim track.

"We had a great battle where we were side-by-side from turn six until turn 12," said Raikkonen. "But he was quicker than me and in the end he managed to get in front."

Montoya's team had reduced his engine revs as he sat behind the McLaren-Mercedes and as he continued to lose time they decided to allow him to make the effort to get by - but Raikkonen was not giving in too easily.

"We decided we were losing too much time behind Kimi, we needed to go by him, so they pumped up the revs," said Montoya. "But it was very difficult to pass him because they seemed to get good acceleration out of turn two.

"The only place to pass him was the hairpin. We came out of there and he was holding me back a little bit, even though I got up beside him, and he put a car length in front ahead of me again.

"Then he made a mistake going out of the new bit going into the stadium and I got him there. He was trying to run around the outside there and there is not too much room up there. It was very entertaining."

Montoya held fourth until a problem with Brazilian Rubens Barrichello's second pit stop promoted the Colombian to third and he claimed second place three laps from the end when his team-mate Ralf Schumacher pitted with engine problems.

Raikkonen, meanwhile, remained in a steady fifth place until he suffered a puncture on lap 37 of the 67-lap race. He dropped down the order before eventually losing control of the car in the stadium section and retiring from the race.

Montoya's six points for second place ensured he retained his runners-up spot in the Championship table and he now sits on 40 points, four ahead of teammate Schumacher and five ahead of Barrichello.