Penalty ruined title hopes, rages Montoya

Following a poor start, Montoya touched Barrichello at the first corner on lap two of the US Grand Prix, sending the Ferrari spinning into the gravel trap, for which he was given a drive-through pit penalty.

"A very disappointing race, basically decided by the penalty I was given for the accident with Rubens and the moment I had to pay it," he said. "Due to the changeable weather conditions, in fact, it started to rain hard just when I was given my drive-through penalty, which forced me to delay by one lap my pitstop to change onto wet tyres."

Montoya also suffered misfortune during his first pitstop, when the fuel rig failed, and finished the race a lap down in sixth.

"It is sad to lose my drivers' championship chances in this way, especially knowing that I just needed to finish fifth today to keep my hopes open."

Team-mate Ralf Schumacher crashed out of the race, which allowed Ferrari to overtake Williams in the constructors' championship as well.