Michael Schumacher returns to the pit after crashing his Ferrari on Sunday. (Reuters)

Monaco: World champion Michael Schumacher candidly criticised Juan Pablo Montoya after a mid-race crash with the Williams driver ended his victorious stranglehold on this season in Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix.

German Schumacher, who had won all five previous races this season, was leading behind the safety car on lap 46 — albeit with a second pit-stop to make — when he collided with Montoya after locking his brakes as he headed through the tunnel.

The race was eventually won by Renault driver Jarno Trulli, of Italy, with Briton Jenson Button second in his BAR-Honda and Schumacher’s Brazilian teammate Rubens Barrichello third for Ferrari.

The race stewards declared Schumacher and Montoya’s crash a racing incident but Schumacher said: “I am sure there was no deliberate intention on his part and I accept the stewards’ decision — but it was silly.

“As you say in English, shit happens and it did today. When the accident with Montoya happened I was leading the race. So the situation is that the race leader was knocked out of the race after being hit by a backmarker.

“I was accelerating and braking just as we do when we go to the grid and in the standard way when running behind the safety car and the tunnel was not even the first place I had done it as I had done the same earlier in the lap.

“A puff of smoke off the wheels is quite normal in these situations as you try to get heat into the front tyre and the brakes.

“That said, Jarno Trulli did a fantastic job to win and I don’t think I could really have challenged him.”

Schumacher spent several hours after the race locked away in a briefing room with his Ferrari engineers and refused to make any comment on the race until he knew the result of the stewards’ inquiry.

Schumacher’s retirement marked the first time he has failed to finish in 19 races, the last time coming when he spun out of the Brazilian Grand Prix last year following a deluge of rain. Schumacher, positive as ever, has already turned his back on the race and is ready to fight back on home ground when the teams head to the Nürburgring for next weekend’s European Grand Prix.

“It has not been the most successful weekend for us (Ferrari),”said Schumacher. “But I am really looking forward to next weekend, when we will already be at the Nürburgring for one of my home races.”

Ralf gets flayed too

Schumacher’s brother, Ralf, also came in for criticism — from Spaniard Fernando Alonso who blamed the German for a crash that cost Renault a one-two finish on Sunday.

The 22-year-old Renault driver slammed into the tunnel guard-rail 30 laps from the end of the race while running in second place and trying to lap Ralf’s Williams.

A burst of flame in the dark highlighted the impact before Alonso’s Renault skidded out of the tunnel exit and hit the barriers with the front of the car before sliding to a standstill.

“Ralf moved to the right and slowed down,” said the Spaniard, who accused Ralf of having ignored blue flags for the first seven corners warning him that there was a faster car trying to get past.

“I tried to overtake him but when we were side by side he went on the throttle again and pushed me into the barrier,” added Alonso.

“I hope they investigate the accident and they take his licence for three or four races. To race with people like this is always difficult,” he added.

Ralf played down the incident after failing to finish the race himself.

“He just ran into some dirt. I’m sorry about it but it wasn’t at all intentional,” he told reporters. “It’s not true that I disobeyed the blue flag... I can understand his frustration but he went too far outside, ran into the dirt and then hit the wall.

“I can understand his being angry. He’s rather inexperienced in Formula One and made a mistake.

“It’s clear that he would try to place the blame on someone else. Just wait a week and he’ll calm down.”