Was Montoya thwarted by pre-race collision?

Juan Pablo Montoya's retirement from the Hungarian Grand Prix may have been precipitated by a bizarre accident during the pre-race preliminaries.

Before the start, Montoya was cruising between the two lines of cars and mechanics on the way to his front row grid position when he collected a portable generator that was standing next to Jenson Button's grid spot.

The impact to the right hand of the car did enough damage to require some last-minute attention to the bodywork, including a change of nose, made under the supervision of the FIA as the car was still under parc ferme conditions.

Montoya's later retirement was a result of the failure of the right-hand driveshaft while he was heading for his second victory of the season. Although Kimi Raikkonen suffered a driveshaft related failure in Imola, this time the problem was different.

The BAR Honda team said that Montoya hadn't been paying attention, and that the generator was in its normal position. The driver himself suggested that it had been moved into his path.

"Maybe he was just focused on getting to his grid position and didn't see the equipment, because no-one put it in front of him," BAR Honda team manager Ron Meadows told Crash.net, "It's just one of those things. There's no hard feelings, and I'm glad he could carry on with his race."