tube from his mouth which caused water to spray on his face under braking. The result led to Benetton technical director Mike Gascoyne to describe the race as "a useful kick-start before the final races of the season" and said Benetton would ensure that the result was not "a one-off". Alesi described the weekend as "a very important one for the team" because of his sixth-place finish. Heidfeld said he felt confident he would have finished in the first three positions had De La Rosa not collided with him. De La Rosa admitted to making an error by braking earlier than usual and said that he would apologise to Heidfeld after underestimating how close the latter was. Montoya left the circuit without speaking to journalists. He admitted to being "so disappointed I cannot find the words to describe how I feel. Up to the pit stop the race was going perfectly for me." Michael Schumacher shared similar feelings to Montoya: "I am not too disappointed as the situation in the championship remains the same and there is one less race to go. It was a shame not to finish the race and pick up a further six points." He denied reports that television footage showed him apparently laughing when Coulthard retired, saying he was joking with the marshals. BMW Motorsport's technical director Mario Theissen surmised that the two starts and Montoya's delayed pit stop causing the engine temperatures to rise likely caused Montoya's engine failure. Williams technical director Patrick Head was unhappy with the refueling rigs supplied by the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). One of the rigs was sent back to manufacturer Intertechnique who found no system faults. After the crash between himself and Burti on the first lap, Michael Schumacher said that although he saw Burti in his rear-view mirrors, he did not know which line he wanted to take and he could not take avoiding action because of his gear selection problem. Burti said that the accident "looked worse on TV" and that he stated his spin on lap 18 was caused because his left arm was aching from the crash. FIA medical delegate Sid Watkins attributed the safety measures made in Formula One since the 1970s for preventing Burti and Michael Schumacher from sustaining a major injury. Coulthard questioned the decision to stop the race by saying: "Accidents or injury off the track is not normally