MOTOR SPORT: Two weekends, two races, two penalties. On Saturday morning, McLaren boss Ron Dennis must have been casting looks of such venom toward the paddock conclave of his team's engine partner, Mercedes, that the chilly weather that accompanied the opening days of the British Grand Prix weekend would have felt positively balmy.
Twenty-four hours, though, is a long time in Formula One. A few short hours after McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen had suffered an oil-pump problem that led to a demotion of 10 places on the grid because of the resultant engine change, the Finn hammered in a lap of Silverstone that placed him just two-hundredths of a second adrift of pole-winner and chief championship rival Fernando Alonso. He'd start from 12th.
And then there was Juan Pablo Montoya. McLaren's (almost) forgotten man has had a rollercoaster season. Injured in the run-up to the race in Bahrain he missed that and the following one at Imola. On his return in Barcelona he destroyed his McLaren in a practice-session smash. In Monaco he was a distant fifth to Raikkonen. At the Nurburgring he was seventh. He was black-flagged in Montreal and didn't race in Indianapolis as the Michelin tyre furore erupted.
Team boss Dennis must have begun to doubt the merits of the Colombian he had agreed a 2005 deal with as far back as two years ago. Then Montoya was a superstar in the making, a driver who in an inferior car had taken the fight on numerous occasions to Michael Schumacher.
Montoya though came with a reputation of being tough to work with. His relationship with Williams was a classic clash of Latin passion and British reserve.
Dennis insisted he could cope, would actually welcome the kind of South American passion he had last seriously experienced with Ayrton Senna.
But Montoya is a different animal from Senna. The Brazilian had an analytical coldness Montoya cannot match. Senna had the wit to hone his talent with application; Montoya has frequently been accused of relying solely on his gifts behind the wheel.
This season too he has been comprehensively undone by Raikkonen. Allowing for engine-related penalties, Raikkonen has outpaced him seven to two.
Yesterday though Montoya did the one thing that has eluded him this season: he kept himself in check, remained in control, dictated things his way.
Starting from third on the grid, behind BAR's Jenson Button and pole-winner Alonso, Montoya blitzed his start, battering his way past both before the cars had screamed through the first sector.
The advantage looked to have been nullified as Takuma Sato brought out the safety car seconds after the start, his BAR sticking in gear on the grid. But as the pace car left the track Montoya held his nerve under assault from Renault's championship leader and kept his lead intact.
Thereafter it was about whether he would hold that nerve over the remaining 58 laps. For once he did.
Alonso probed for a weakness but found none. Until the pair's first pit stop there was never more than a couple of seconds in the duel but thereafter Montoya began to flex muscles that many had believed had atrophied.
Setting a string of fastest laps, he increased the margin, and while Alonso clawed his way back through the second stop he could do nothing about the McLaren driver's pace, which was in the end victory-clinching.
"In qualifying, being one of the first cars to run was really hard," said Montoya afterwards. "Even though I knew we had the potential to do a good lap, (the start) is where the race was won. I knew Fernando could not race too much and I could risk some more.
"We had great strategy and we came in a lap early at the first stop. It was close (with Alonso) but it was enough . . . I worked to open up a gap and Fernando had a bit of traffic, which helped."
Montoya's comeback was tempered by the presence on the podium of Raikkonen. The Colombian garnered 10 points but the Finn, in posting third, stole much of his thunder with another frighteningly potent drive that confirmed him as the fastest man in Formula One.
Yesterday the McLaren-Renault dogfight everyone had wished for in Magny-Cours materialised. For most though, it was the wrong McLaren doing battle at the front.
60 Laps: 1 Juan Montoya (Col) McLaren 1hr 24mins 29.588secs, 2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:24:32.288, 3 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren 1:24:43.988, 4 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault 1:24:47.388, 5 Jenson Button (Gbr) BAR 1:25:07.688, 6 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 1:25:42.688, 7 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Ferrari 1:25:43.888, 8 Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 1:25:46.488, 9 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:25:48.088, 10 Felipe Massa (Bra) Sauber at 1 lap, 11 Mark Webber (Aus) Williams at 1 lap, 12 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Williams at 1 lap, 13 David Coulthard (Gbr) Red Bull at 1 lap, 14 Jacques Villeneuve (Can) Sauber at 1 lap, 15 Christian Klien (Aut) Red Bull at 1 lap, 16 Takuma Sato (Jpn) BAR at 2 laps, 17 Tiago Monteiro (Por) Jordan at 2 laps, 18 Christijan Albers (Ned) Minardi at 3 laps, 19 Patrick Freisacher (Aut) Minardi at 4 laps Not Classified: Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) Jordan 10 laps completed Fastest Lap: Kimi Raikkonen 1:20.502 (Lap 60)
Championship Standings: 1 Fernando Alonso 77pts, 2 Kimi Raikkonen 51, 3 Michael Schumacher 43, 4 Rubens Barrichello 31, 5 Jarno Trulli 31, 6 Juan Montoya 26, 7 Giancarlo Fisichella 25, 8 Nick Heidfeld 25, 9 Ralf Schumacher 23, 10 Mark Webber 22, 11 David Coulthard 17, 12 Jenson Button 9, 13 Felipe Massa 7, 14 Jacques Villeneuve 6, 15 Alexander Wurz (Aut) McLaren 6, 16 Tiago Monteiro 6, 17 Narain Karthikeyan 5, 18 Christijan Albers 4, 19 Christian Klien 4, 20 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) McLaren 4, 21 Patrick Freisacher 3, 22 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Red Bull 1
Manufacturers: 1 Renault 102pts, 2 McLaren 87, 3 Ferrari 74, 4 Toyota 54, 5 Williams 47, 6 Red Bull 22, 7 Sauber 13, 8 Jordan 11, 9 BAR 9, 10 Minardi 7
