Montoya: Michelin did a good job today.

Juan Montoya found time to praise McLaren's tyre partner Michelin after taking victory at the Italian Grand Prix, even though rubber problems could have cost him the win and almost certainly contributed to team-mate Kimi Raikkonen losing ground in the world championship.

Montoya held on to win the race at Monza by just over two seconds from Raikkonen's title rival Fernando Alonso, despite his left rear tyre showing similar signs of undue to wear to that which forced the Finn back into the pits just three laps after his one scheduled stop. Although Michelin refused to confirm the nature of the problem, a strip of tread was visibly peeling away from JPM's tyre at the close of the 53-lap event, causing him some handling concerns with the chequered flag in site.

"I had a big moment going through the Parabolica, and was very close to spinning," he revealed, "I wondered what the heck happened.

"From then on, it just became undriveable. I could probably have done one more lap in the lead and that was about it. I was actually going into turn one on the last lap and I braked and prayed that nothing would happen, and I was lucky that it didn't.

"Looking at the tyre, as far as rubber goes, there is nothing left but the casing. Everything held up pretty well, so Michelin did a good job today. We need to understand what happened, because I think the only team to have the problem was McLaren, but it's strange because we tested these tyres in the test last week and they was fine."

The Colombian was unaware of his team-mate's tyre problems until he enquired about Raikkonen's track position.

"I actually asked where Kimi was running, because my plan was, if Kimi was behind me, to help him for the championship - I never really got to that point," he explained, "They told me he had just pitted again, which was a bit of a surprise for me because I had seen him pitting on the TV. So I thought 'he's pitting now', but the team said he had a problem with the tyres, so it was a bit of a shock. They said to look after the left rear tyre - and I had been having oversteer all day long on it!"

Asked whether the handling traits he had been suffering in qualifying had played a part in the tyre's demise, Montoya said he could not be sure, but revealed that he had not had problems until right at the end of the race.

"I dialled some of the oversteer out, but I didn't have any confidence in the car to lean on it," he explained, "I couldn't go into the corners and say 'okay, I'm going to lean on it' because I tried to close the diffs and everything and, mid-corner, when I had a stable entry, it would just understeer, so it was one or the other. It was a bit of a pain in the ass, but it was good. Even like that, I won the race, so I don't mind.

"It was kind of strange though because, from the word go, the oversteer was there and, right at the end, I was looking at the tyres constantly in the mirrors. You could see a little bit on the left tyre but, after the last stop, it just broke into pieces and there was no grip.

"The main thing was that you couldn't really push, or lean on the tyre, or anything. It was go as slow as you can. I had turned down the engine before that, so I brought it back up to full power and I think that helped me a little bit. I was calculating, but I couldn't go any quicker to be honest. Any quicker was a big risk to go off. When I had four seconds with two laps to go, I thought it should be okay."