Williams Error to Blame for Montoya's Failure

Williams' chief operations engineer Sam Michael revealed that a risky gamble by the team ruined Juan Pablo Montoya's chances of a good result at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Montoya started alongside eventual race winner Michael Schumacher on the front row of the grid but dropped down to fourth at the start and was forced to retire from the race on the 46th lap with brake failure.

"We just stepped over the limit here really," Michael said. "We decided to go for smaller brake ducts to get more aeroynamic performance out of the car and clearly it was the wrong decision. We knew what we did was very risky but we took the risk because we wanted the performance.

"We thought we could manage it in the race but it turned out that we couldn't on Juan's car."

The mistake proved costly as Ferrari recorded another dominant one-two finish and rivals Renault picked up 11 points with Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso claiming third and fourth.

Montoya's teammate Ralf Schumacher earned three points for the team with a sixth-place finish, but the result allowed BAR to move two points ahead of them into a clear third place in the constructors' Championship.

But Williams remain optimistic that they will not make the same error and that they can improve their performance to challenge Ferrari.

"Obviously we were not racing in the form in which we were testing but that is part of the development," said technical director Patrick Head. "We will correct our mistake and go out and race at the next race. In the recent past its not been brilliant for us here but not as poor as today.

"But one of the good things about Formula One is that providing you do the right things you get the chance to put it in two weeks time. I think different teams have done better or worse jobs at different tracks and here we are looking at a poor performance from the team and we will be better next time."