Try as he might, Barrichello was unable to close the gap and as he entered his final lap, Montoya's mechanics mounted the pit wall, ready to applaud the Colombian. Having come close so many times this year, the BMW powered Williams stayed reliable to the end and so it was that on lap 53, Juan Pablo Montoya became grand prix racing's newest member. Delighted with his maiden win, the Colombian paid homage to his team and thanked them for a great day. "I am very happy," he said. "First of all, I want to thank everyone at Williams, BMW, Michelin. They've done a fantastic job for me and I'm just so pleased with the result. To everyone that's been supporting me I want to say thanks. It's been a tough season so far, we had good and bad results, a lot of bad luck and now we turn another page. Three poles and a win is not so bad."
Crossing the line in 2nd, Barrichello was pleased with his performance and asked if there been anything different with the team this weekend, the Brazilian's response was simple: "When we would go to a normal weekend before Michael won the championship, you would go thinking that he would get the first treatment because he had the chance to win the title. That's the only thing that differs. We have equal treatment and we are allowed to race each other basically. I had a weekend when I performed really well, one of my best weekends. I could go for it in qualifying, I could go for it in the race and the team have helped quite a good amount."
Disappointed with his afternoon's work, a disconsolate Ralf Schumacher took third for Williams and thus, barely uttered a word in the press conference - his thoughts obviously far from racing matters, the German simply announcing: "I've already made a couple of comments and I don't want to comment any more thank you... "
Completing the top six, a lacklustre performance from Michael Schumacher saw him bring his Ferrari home in 4th, followed by the ever-improving De la Rosa and Villeneuve's BAR taking the final point.
A weekend to forget then for all concerned - not just in the grand prix arena, but the world over. Indianapolis is but two weeks away and while reports of American retaliation abound, the Formula One circus will be making the trip across the Atlantic to be hopefully joined by a sense of normality in what has been a difficult and trying seven days.
