Williams Drivers can Expect Reprimand

Juan Pablo Montoya and Williams teammate Ralf Schumacher can expect to be read the riot act after an embarrassing collision in Sunday's US Grand Prix.

"Sometimes when you are young you think you are always right even if you are wrong," commented team technical director Patrick Head. "I am sure Frank (Williams) will be making it very plain to them what he thinks his opinion is. I hope that if they are bright enough they will take something on board."

Williams have a tradition of giving their drivers free rein to race each other, a policy at odds with that of champions Ferrari and one that has proved entertaining but sometimes costly in the past.

Ralf and Montoya's strong rivalry has increased recently, with the German forcing his way past the Colombian on the first lap of the last race in Italy and Montoya having a go on Sunday.

He was trying to overtake on the outside on lap two when Ralf skidded on the kerb as he braked, the rear end of his car slipping round and hitting his teammate's rear.

The Colombian fell short of blaming Ralf outright for an incident that cost the team a possible podium, even if Williams still ended the day with overall second place in the Constructors' Championship secured.

"I'm not going to say it was completely Ralf's fault," said Montoya. "I mean we were racing and everything... I braked really late, just made the corner and something hit me in the back.

"I think I gave him enough room. I'm not going to give him all the track but I did give him enough room. When we got to the braking I was clearly ahead of him."

Basic Mistake

Ralf expressed his annoyance but reserved judgement: "Most important is that such things should not happen between team mates, no matter who is responsible," he said.

Montoya owned up to a basic error later in the race when he misread a pit board and came in for his pitstop 10 laps too early. "I made a huge mistake," he said, and Head was scathing about the incident.

"Juan imagined something that was never on the pit-board, didn't follow his procedures, didn't communicate to the pits in the way that he is supposed to and decided to come into the pits," Head said.

"It's something that if he is going to make use of the talent that he has as a driver then it is a side of his performance that he has got to put more attention to."

With one race remaining, the 2002 season has proved a big disappointment for Williams after a promising return to winning ways last year.

Ferrari have won 14 of the 16 races to date and Williams have had only Ralf's success in Malaysia in March and Montoya's seven pole positions to brag about.

Head did not see much room for team optimism at the season-ending Japanese Grand Prix in two weeks' time either.

"I think it will be a perfect race for Ferrari," he declared. "It (Suzuka) has got some similarities with Barcelona and I think our car is not good enough to compete with Ferrari there.

"I think we could have been reasonably close to them here, though I don't think we would have challenged them.

"Juan lost around eight seconds in the bump at the start, then he lost another 10, maybe more, seconds because of pitting so early.

"I think it will be very much a Ferrari benefit at Suzuka, we want to try and compete and beat McLaren. Then I shall be glad to have the season over racing-wise and not to have our noses rubbed into it every two weeks."