Montoya's McLaren future unhurt by Indy

That is the view of McLaren's F1 CEO Martin Whitmarsh, who claims that it would be wrong of the outfit to criticise Montoya for trying to hold his position at the opening corner of the race.

Although the Colombian's aggression led to him sliding into the back of Raikkonen under braking for Turn 2 after he put a wheel on the grass, Whitmarsh believes the team would have had more reason to criticise him if he had backed off and given away positions easily.

Montoya faces an uncertain future in the sport but is believed to remain an outside contender to stay at McLaren next year, if he can start delivering the kind of performance that helped him win races in 2005.

When asked whether Montoya's chances of staying on board had been hindered by the accident, Whitmarsh said: "No. I think getting good results helps us all, but the way in which the end of this race came about isn't something that the team is going to hold against Juan Pablo.

"Had he let [Jenson] Button and [Nick] Heidfeld through and taken an ultra-cautious approach, we would probably have had some view on that with him, wouldn't we?"

There were rumours spreading around the Indianapolis paddock on Sunday night suggesting that McLaren were poised to drop Juan Pablo Montoya in favour of Pedro de la Rosa for the French Grand Prix, on the back of the accident. But Whitmarsh has rubbished those suggestions.

"Would you?" he asked. "Are there grounds and justification if you look at it? There isn't, is there? Did he do anything outlandish there? No.

"The fact is that he (Montoya) had two choices: give way to Button and Heidfeld - in which case he would not have got squeezed so much and could have braked - or hold his position relative to those two.

"Unfortunately when he braked, he had his front left slightly off the circuit and lacking grip. That did not give him the ability to stop in time.

"I think if you look at it, you can regret the outcome. But you cannot say he should have plainly and obviously done something different in a racing circumstance."

McLaren appear to be in no rush to sort out their second driver for next season, with Whitmarsh claiming that the team are still pondering what to do with young drivers Lewis Hamilton and Gary Paffett.

One possibility is that both men get loaned to another team for 2007 to learn the ropes, while McLaren take an experienced driver on a short deal.

"I think Lewis is a fantastic talent, I am sure he is going to be in F1 and he deserves to be in F1," said Whitmarsh.

"Gary (Paffett) is also a very, very talented driver, and I feel in some ways sorry that he has been in some extent eclipsed by circumstance, because he is doing a very, very good job for us in testing, and he is good enough to be an F1 race driver."

He added: "With Gary and Lewis, then they both deserve to be racing in Formula One in the next couple of years. That could be next year for both of them in other cars."