Rubens denies blocking JPM

Rubens Barrichello has denied that he held Juan Pablo Montoya up in the Malaysian Grand Prix. Montoya emerged behind Barrichello after the final pitstops and could not find a way past the Ferrari ending his chances of fighting for victory with Michael Schumacher

After the race Montoya suggested that he was deliberately blocked by the Ferrari driver. "I went to pass him and straight away he blocked me," Montoya said in the press conference. "I thought knowing Ferrari it's better to back off than, you know..." But Barrichello reckons that the Williams driver was never close enough to have got by.

'I don't feel Juan Pablo ever really had a chance to overtake me,' said Barrichello. 'I could see him behind me, but not in a way that he could have got by. I think what might have given him that impression was the time I was stuck trying to lap a Minardi. At first, he would not let me by and then he got really sideways in front of me at Turn 5, costing me around three seconds on one lap and I guess that's why Juan Pablo got upset.

"It was annoying for me also, as it lost me any chance of moving ahead of anyone in those few laps when I could have been pushing hard. So I was a bit upset by Juan Pablo's comments, because there is no way I would have wanted to lose three seconds in one lap.

"It was only the second race of the year and I wanted to win it for myself and the team, so with two laps to go until I was due to pit, why would I hold him up to make him lose time? I certainly didn't change my strategy just to hold him up."