Hockenheim, Aug 04: Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya won the crash-marred German Grand Prix to move within six points of defending five-times champion Michael Schumacher in the drivers' title race. The first-corner collision on Sunday (August 3) involved Ralf Schumacher of Williams, Finn Kimi Raikkonen of McLaren and Brazilian Rubens Barrichello of Ferrari, all of whom were leading contenders for the race. Montoya, opting for a three-stop strategy in his Williams while most of his rivals stopped only twice, took the lead after starting from his 11th pole position and ran away easily, winning by 67 seconds. It was his second win in six Formula One races, during which he has always been on the podium, and the third of his career. It made him the leading challenger to Michael Schumacher for this year's title. Schumacher started sixth and, after profiting from the first-lap multiple collision which wiped out six cars, he fought up to second place in torrid heat in his Ferrari.


But a puncture to his left rear wheel with three laps remaining forced him to take a late third pit stop and dropped him to seventh.


As the track temperature touched 50 degrees Celsius and the air temperature soared to 36, Briton David Coulthard grabbed second place for McLaren, ahead of Italian Jarno Trulli and Spaniard Fernando Alonso in the two Renaults.


Frenchman Olivier Panis was fifth for Toyota ahead of his team mate Brazilian Cristiano Da Matta. Schumacher was seventh and Briton Jenson Button eighth for BAR-Honda.


Ralf Schumacher was later officially blamed for the first lap accident. Race stewards ordered that he would have to drop 10 grid positions from his qualifying spot at the start of his next race, the Hungarian Grand Prix on August 24.


Montoya, whose father was celebrating in the pit lane after the race, said he was unaware what had happened to his teammate at the start. He said he found it difficult to build a lead for the first few laps but found he was pulling away later on in the race.


Coulthard looked a little disappointed by his second place and said his car suffered from understeer after the pit stops.


Provisional result: 1. Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia) Williams one hour 28 minutes 48.769 seconds 2. David Coulthard (Britain) McLaren 1 minute 05.4 seconds behind 3. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Renault 1:09.0 4. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault 1:09.3 5. Olivier Panis (France) Toyota 1 lap behind 6. Cristiano da Matta (Brazil) Toyota 1 lap 7. Michael Schumacher (Germany) Ferrari 1 lap 8. Jenson Button (Britain) BAR 1 lap 9. Jacques Villeneuve (Canada) BAR 2 laps 10. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) Sauber 2 laps 11. Mark Webber (Australia) Jaguar 3 laps 12. Nicolas Kiesa (Denmark) Minardi 5 laps 13. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Jordan 7 laps


Not classified (did not finish): Jos Verstappen (Netherlands) Minardi 23 laps completed Justin Wilson (Britain) Jaguar 6 Ralf Schumacher (Germany) Williams 1 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Germany) Sauber 1 Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Ferrari 0 Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) McLaren 0 Ralph Firman (Britain) Jordan 0


World championship standings: Drivers 1. Michael Schumacher (Germany) Ferrari 71 points 2. Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia) Williams 65 3. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) McLaren 62 4. Ralf Schumacher (Germany) Williams 53 5. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Ferrari 49 6. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault 44 7. David Coulthard (Britain) McLaren 41 8. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Renault 22 9. Mark Webber (Australia) Jaguar 12 10. Jenson Button (Britain) BAR 12 11. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Jordan 10 12. Cristiano da Matta (Brazil) Toyota 8 13. Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Germany) Sauber 7 14. Olivier Panis (France) Toyota 6 15. Jacques Villeneuve (Canada) BAR 3 16. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) Sauber 2 17. Ralph Firman (Britain) Jordan 1

Constructors 1. Ferrari 120 points 2. Williams 118 3. McLaren 103 4. Renault 66 5. BAR 15 6. Toyota 14 7. Jaguar 12 8. Jordan 11 9. Sauber 9 10. Minardi 0


Bureau Report