Superb Montoya drives to victory, DNF for Jos

Published on 03 August 2003 by Huub Rothengatter

Juan Pablo Montoya did good business this afternoon by gathering essential points for the championship. In a interesting race the Columbian drove to victory while most of his competitors did not score. Jos retired short after his first pitstop with an hydraulic problem.

Today we had a first corner crash, something we haven't seen for a long time. Kimi Raikkonen had a good start and seemed to go around Barrichello. Ralf Schumacher, who had a not so good start, made Barrichello weave out and the Brazilian hit Raikkonen, who then hit Ralf Schumacher. The race was over for these three drivers even before the got passed the first lap. In the chaos after this crash Frentze, Wilson and Firman damaged their cars and had to retire from the race. Jos managed to get around all of the mayhem and used the safety car situation to make a pitstop.

At the front both Renaults, Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard gained advantage from these problems. After the restart Montoya was in a league of his own in his BMW Williams. The Columbian was like lightning, his victory was never in doubt. Behind him it was a bit more exciting. Alonso made a little error which gave Michael Schumacher the opportunity to put himself between the two Renaults. At the end of the race he increased the pressure on Trulli and overtook the Italian in the hairpin. Coulthard did the same thing a couple of laps later. The race seemed to be run with Michael Schumacher in second, but 3 laps before the end he had a punctured left rear tyre. He had to go into the pits to have a new tyre and dropped from 2nd to seventh place.

Jos had left the race by then. He had to retire from 12th place in the 24th lap with an hydraulic problem. We spoke with Jos after the race. "Unsatisfying end to a tough weekend. I noticed before my pitstop that shifting down was taking a long time. After the pitstop it just cut out on me. My start was good, although I had to brake hard for avoid the debris. All I could do was go along with the race. Not a good weekend" according to Jos.