Nurburgring, June 30: Michael Schumacher has rejected his Ferrari team's criticisms of Juan Pablo Montoya after an incident between the two during the European Grand Prix.
Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn described Montoya as "mad" after Montoya passed Schumacher for second place around the outside on lap 43 and the German spun down to fifth place.
But Schumacher said Montoya had been perfectly correct in his driving and race stewards described the light collision between the two cars as a normal "racing incident" and said no further action was required.
"It was no problem. He gave me a little room to breathe - very little, but just enough to survive," Schumacher said. "But then I ran a little wide and we just touched. BI would have done exactly the same thing in his position. "I would have been happier if he had left me more space, but it's not his job to make me happy.



"With his speed he was going to pass me sooner or later, it was only a question of time," Schumacher added. "In an ideal world I would have liked more points and a better result but I have a bigger lead in the championship now [after rival Kimi Raikkonen retired] so I'm not complaining. It was a good move."



Montoya said: "I don't know what was wrong with Michael but in the corner [before] he was very slow. I went down to the hairpin and I went outside and we touched.



"I gave him plenty of room but I wasn't going to give him all the track."



Brawn said: "It was mad of Montoya. He could have taken both of them off the circuit.



"It was a very crude overtaking move and he has done it several times before. He is not a classy driver in that respect.


"Overtaking is an exciting part of the race, but it's got to be done with a bit of class and that was just crude."



Ex-Grand Prix driver Martin Brundle rejected Brawn's criticisms, saying Montoya had done "nothing wrong".



Brundle added that it would be "outrageous" if Montoya was penalised for the move. "He left Schumacher enough space," Brundle said.


Bureau Report