05/08/2005
NEWS STORY
Montoya rues retirement
An upset Juan Pablo Montoya is adamant that he would have won the Hungarian Grand Prix had it not been for the driveshaft failure that put him out of the race.
The Colombian claimed, "I was going to make my second stop one lap later than Kimi would make his third so I would have won it easily even if he'd have caught me."
Alonso points the finger
The championship leader, Fernando Alonso, lay the blame for his disastrous Hungarian Grand Prix firmly at the door of Ralf Schumacher. Alonso lost his front wing in an incident with the German, which he claims was nothing to do with him: "I was very surprised by how many movements Ralf was making into the first corner, and he just didn't give me any room at all. I was right up on the kerb, nearly in the grass." Schumacher has wisely opted not to comment.
The Spaniard is not concerned that rival Kimi Raikkonen cut his lead in the championship by ten points : "We started this month with a 22 point lead and we end it with 26 and four races less." He also warned the other teams that Renault are aiming to improve their car further in the three-week break: "'We have developments on the way. ''In Hungary it was our turn to suffer - now it's time to rest, to plan the final sprint."
McLaren defend Raikkonen
Kimi Raikkonen's drunken behaviour during nights out with his friends has been well- documented in the press in recent months, but McLaren boss, Ron Dennis, dismisses any suggestion that his driver is reckless. He said, "I know of only one driver who doesn't drink alcohol. I know many drivers let their hair down. They go far beyond the boundaries that Kimi has explored."
Karthikeyan told to tone down
Narain Karthikeyan has been advised to copy the driving style of his team-mate, Tiago Monteiro, and adopt a more laid-back approach in the cockpit. Johnny Herbert, former F1 driver and newly appointed Sporting Relations manager at Jordan, admitted telling the Indian driver to "calm down, be smooth, don't overdrive the thing", and added that he is "a little bit wild at the moment." Herbert explained that Monteiro is " a lot calmer and more confident with himself, they are quite different but Narain does have a billion people sitting on his shoulder and that makes life difficult."
It is rumoured that Karthikeyan may be leaving Jordan. According to his manager; "talks are going on" with various other F1 teams, with a view to being released from his Jordan contract at the end of this year.
The driver himself has merely said that, "Some teams have shown interest. Anything can happen. We are keeping our options open". While his manager added that, "Winning and standing on the podium (are his goals). We aren't sure we can get that with what we have. One has to think of the long term." Jordan is seemingly eager to let him go in 2006, if the comments of new team member, Johnny Herbert, are anything to go by.
Meanwhile, reports are circulating that India will host a Grand Prix from 2008. Karthikeyan is in the process of trying to convince the Indian government to stage the event in the next two to three years: "In fact, I am trying to sell the idea to the government. But we have to realise that it is a high-profile event and we will have to build the infrastructure first."