The McLaren driver said Montoya needed to "calm it down" in races after the Colombian had spun into Coulthard while they were battling for fourth place.

Montoya was in tyre trouble in his Williams at the time and had been radioing his pit asking to come in to change rubber.

Coulthard said: "He knew the state of his car and there is a time when you just can't fight. There is no glory in both cars not finishing.

"It sits very well with the Montoya image in F1 but the guy is all over the place.

"It is hardly surprising that he hasn't won more races because I think he is very inconsistent in the race.

"We've seen brilliant qualifying performances from him this year but he needs to calm it down in the race.

"Sometimes you just have to say: 'I ain't quick enough - on you go'.

"He would probably score a higher result in the end because we were losing one-two seconds a lap together.

"Sometimes you have to think of the big picture. In this race last year, Ralf [Schumacher] was behind me but I let him through because he was the only guy who could challenge Michael [Schumacher].

"I was only going to hold him up and in holding him up I'd screw my race and someone else might pass me.

"There is much more than that one piece of track we're fighting over. You count the winners at the chequered flag.

"In hindsight obviously I regret having a go around the outside because there is a bigger risk than on the inside.

"But that was the opportunity that was presented to me because he blocked the inside on the straight - which is fair enough - and you've got to go for it."

Montoya, who had started the race from pole position, told Coulthard that he spun because he had been suffering a lack of grip.

He said: "I had no tyres left - I was screaming to the pits to do something but they didn't pull me in.

"It's a bit disappointing because we talked about it beforehand and said that if the tyres were going away before the pit stops we would call."

Coulthard was encouraged by McLaren's form in the race.

"The encouraging thing for us is that we were only 0.6 seconds away from pole in qualifying - which is a step forward for McLaren - and obviously stronger than Williams in the race."

Coulthard's team-mate Kimi Raikkonen finished third, beating Montoya's team-mate Ralf Schumacher into fourth place.

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