Williams: It would have been tight

Race winner Michael Schumacher slowed significantly in the closing stages having had a seven second advantage just before Montoya retired.

"It was the usual story, nothing wrong, just a case of driving it safely home," Schumacher said. "One tenth is enough to win the race."

Williams, however, thought there was more to it than that.

"We saw Michael's times and I think he was quite short on fuel towards the end and maybe in problems with rear tyres, so it would have been a very interesting race had Juan stayed in," said technical director Patrick Head.

Schumacher made his single pit stop just past half distance but had he exited the pitlane fractionally later, he would have been trapped behind his brother's Williams and Kimi Raikkonen, who both had some way to go before their own stops. To shorten the stop therefore, he probably took on just enough fuel. Whether he could have responded to a Montoya charge is debatable.

Michelin's Pierre Dupasquier was adamant: "From what we have seen of Michael's tyres, he was suffering a much greater wear rate. If Juan Pablo had still been going at the end I'm convinced he would have been able to challenge Michael and I'm absolutely certain he would have passed him."