The second accident was in turn two, and involved the most cars. Everyone seems to agree that it was started by JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, who braked for his slowing
McLaren team-mate, KIMI RAIKKONEN. But not all the drivers played the 'Blame Game'. Several said it was just racing, even after reviewing the tapes. Neither Montoya himself nor his team accepted responsibility. On the other hand,
Red Bull put out a post-race release thanking Montoya for enabling two of its cars one Red Bull Racing and one
Scuderia Toro Rosso - to finish the race in the points. Montoya rear-ended Raikkonen. JENSON BUTTON, who was on the right of Montoya was hit, he spun into NICK HEIDFELD, who then barrel-rolled three times into the gravel trap. SCOTT SPEED had nowhere to go.
Montoya's version: "It is hard to say exactly what really happened. Kimi braked really hard. I just hit him in the back, and I think that just triggered everything. It's just racing. Things like that happen. I don't think the blame goes for anybody, it was just a racing incident. It is pretty surprising it hasn't happened more often. It is a very tight first corner and a very narrow track, so it's going to happen. There is always something that happens here. It is a shame. We had a great race car. For McLaren Mercedes, it's a very disappointing day."
Raikkonen was not as charitable about the incident as some of the others who said it was just racing. He said: "I guess it is quite easy to see from the replay what really happened. I was just doing my own thing. It's not my fault, so what can you do? It's better that you look from the replay to see. It's pretty obvious what really happened."
Button said: "Montoya started to go inside me, there wasn't enough room, and he hit me. He was trying to be aggressive after his poor qualifying."
After the accident, Heidfeld's said: "I'm fine. It looked much worse than it was. But obviously it wasn't a hard impact."
While
Bridgestone finished one-two, Michelin finished third and had six of the nine finishers in the attrition-shortened field. NICK SHORROCK, Michelin racing director, said he was "disappointed in the tyre's performance but pleased with its durability." He thanked the Indianapolis audience for not holding a grudge about last year's tyre debacle.
