Montoya Wins his Final GP for Williams in Brazil

Juan Pablo Montoya gave Williams-BMW the perfect leaving present on Sunday when he marked his final race for the team with a popular hard-fought victory in the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Colombian Montoya, who will join McLaren-Mercedes next year, got the better of his future teammate Kimi Raikkonen in a close scrap through the dying laps to score his first win of the year.

The battling duo outclassed Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello, who had desperately hoped to become the first Brazilian winner at Interlagos since Ayrton Senna in 1993, and he had to settle for third after starting from pole.

Spaniard Fernando Alonso finished fourth for Renault but it was not enough to wrestle the runners-up spot from BAR-Honda even though Japanese driver Takuma Sato lost fifth to German Ralf Schumacher on the final lap.

World Champion Michael Schumacher had a difficult day after starting from 18th following an engine change in practice and he spun once as he worked his way up to seventh in a disappointing end to his spectacular season with Ferrari.

Sauber driver Felipe Massa made it two Brazilians in the points with eighth place while Scot David Coulthard, who will now leave McLaren, finished what could be his last ever race down in 11th place.

And the Jaguar team's last ever race proved to be a disaster as their two cars collided midway through the race leaving Australian Mark Webber to retire and Austrian Christian Klien finishing 14th.

After early morning rain Barrichello made a strong start on the damp track to take the lead as Finn Raikkonen and Brazilian Massa both shot past the slow starting second-placed Williams of Montoya.

Barrichello's lead would not last long and Raikkonen shot past him through the third corner to move to the front but the Brazilian took the place back again into the first corner on lap three.

Schumacher's progress from 18th on the grid was slowed by a spin on lap three but with a drying track there was plenty of time to be gained and lost in the pits as the drivers who started on wet tyres began to come in.

Raikkonen and Montoya were the first to do so on lap five and they exited the pits side-by-side in a battle that would prove to be vital for the race win while Schumacher also stopped for dry tyres.

Jenson Button's BAR-Honda gave a telltale smoke signal on the grid and although he got away well the car ground to a halt after just three laps and the Briton posted his third retirement of the year.

Barrichello pitted at the end of the sixth lap to hand Massa the lead but the Sauber driver pitted on the next lap to leave Alonso, who had started the race on dry tyres, out in front.

By the 13th lap the track was dry and Alonso, who did not have to pit, led Montoya by seven seconds with Raikkonen third, Ralf Schumacher fourth, Sato fifth, Barrichello sixth and Jacques Villeneuve, another no-stopper, seventh.

Michael Schumacher had moved up to ninth and was hounding eighth-placed Coulthard but the Scot was not giving an inch and chopped across the nose of the Ferrari several times in the ensuing battle.

German Nick Heidfeld's Jordan stopped out on track on lap 18 just before leader Alonso pitted for his first stop and Montoya immediately responded by setting the fastest lap of the race as he took the lead.

Jaguar then watched in horror as Klien turned into teammate Webber as the Australian tried to pass on lap 24 in a move that put Webber out of the race and forced Klien to pit for a new nose.

Barrichello pitted for a second time on lap 28 and Montoya, apparently suffering with a misting visor, then handed the lead over to Raikkonen once again when he pitted for his second stop.

It briefly rained again and Sato made a mistake to let Barrichello through up to fifth behind Ralf Schumacher as Montoya led second-placed Raikkonen and third-placed Alonso at the front.

Alonso pitted again on lap 48 as Montoya continued to push hard to extend his lead before he made his final stop. Raikkonen then did the same as he stayed out to try to take advantage of a clear track.

The Finn built up an advantage of almost 20 seconds before he pitted at the end of lap 55 but his lead was not enough for his mechanics to get him out ahead of Montoya and he dropped back down to second.

That left the Williams and McLaren drivers fighting out at the front with Barrichello some 20 seconds behind in third but there was nothing Raikkonen could do to find a way past.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS The Brazilian Grand Prix Interlagos, Sao Paulo, Brazil; 71 laps; 305.909km; Weather: Damp, then dry. Classified: Pos Driver Team-Engine Time 1. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1h28:01.451 2. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) + 1.022 3. Barrichello Ferrari (B) + 24.099 4. Alonso Renault (M) + 48.308 5. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) + 49.740 6. Sato BAR-Honda (M) + 50.248 7. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) + 50.626 8. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) + 1:02.310 9. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) + 1:03.842 10. Villeneuve Renault (M) + 1 lap 11. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) + 1 lap 12. Trulli Toyota (M) + 1 lap 13. Zonta Toyota (M) + 1 lap 14. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) + 2 laps 15. Glock Jordan-Ford (B) + 2 laps 16. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) + 4 laps 17. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) + 4 laps Fastest Lap: Montoya, 1:11.473 Not Classified/Retirements: Driver Team On Lap Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 24 Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 16 Button BAR-Honda (M) 4 Final World Championship Standing: Drivers: Constructors: 1. M.Schumacher 148 1. Ferrari 262 2. Barrichello 114 2. BAR-Honda 119 3. Button 85 3. Renault 105 4. Alonso 59 4. Williams-BMW 88 5. Montoya 58 5. McLaren-Mercedes 69 6. Trulli 46 6. Sauber-Petronas 34 7. Raikkonen 45 7. Jaguar-Cosworth 10 8. Sato 34 8. Toyota 9 9. R.Schumacher 24 9. Jordan-Ford 5 10. Coulthard 24 10. Minardi-Cosworth 1 11. Fisichella 22 12. Massa 12 13. Webber 7 14. Panis 6 15. Pizzonia 6 16. Klien 3 17. da Matta 3 18. Heidfeld 3 19. Glock 2 20. Baumgartner 1 21. Villeneuve 0 22. Zonta 0 23. Gene 0 24. Pantano 0 25. Bruni 0 All timing unofficial