Montreal Grand Prix Report: Exciting Race with Controversial Results

Third place went to Ferrari's amiable Rubens Barrichello, who put up an admirable fight for quite some time as he attempted to catch his teammate. Fourth went to

Controversy and drama erupted after the race as track stewards announced that both the Williams-BMW and Toyota teams were being disqualified for illegal brake cooling ducts. (Photo: BMW Canada)

Jenson Button, visibly disappointed with the outcome as he started second. Fifth was Juan Pablo Montoya, also frustrated with his outcome, more so because his teammate showed such pace during the race weekend and he didn't. The rest of the top ten included Sauber's Fisichella in 6th, Toyota's elated ex-Champ car (probably soon to be returning Champ-car) Cristiano da Matta beating his teammate to 7th, ice man Kimi Räikkönen bringing his ox-cart McLaren into the last position for points, plus Toyota's Panis in 9th and 21-year old Timo Glock, Jordan's test driver running his first F1 race ever due to an internal contract breach by regular driver Giorgio Pantano - he failed to pay for his ride.

So the race was over and everyone went home, right? Well not exactly. Here's where the controversy lies alluded to in the first paragraph: Williams' Ralf Schumacher and JPM were discredited their points and disqualified from the race due to what the event stewards have cited to be illegal brake cooling ducts. That moved Button up to 3rd and an overwhelmed Fisichella into 4th. To make things even more interesting, however, both Toyota drivers were tossed out of their points winning places as well, placing Räikkönen in 5th and Glock in 6th - not too shabby for his first race. Jordan celebrated doubly as his second car driven by German Nick Heidfeld secured the last

For the 3rd race in a row, Japanese superstar Takuma Sato was forced to withdraw from the race early due to a spectacular blown motor. (Photo: Honda Canada)

points paying position in 8th, just behind 7th place finisher Massa in his Sauber. What's the racing world coming to when both Sauber and Jordan score in the points at a single event?

And what happened to Japan's superhero Speed Racer - otherwise known as Takuma Sato? For the 3rd race in a row his trusty Honda powerplant evaporated into a spectacular cloud of smoke, and that after wowing the crowd with his lap record time during Friday's practice session. It's looking more and more like Sato has been saddled with Jacques Villeneuve's troubled BAR from last year, well at least when its in flames. Of course, unlike Jacques, BAR boss David Richards won't blame him for poor race results that seem clearly out of his control.