Sunday's was Williams's first victory since Montoya, moving to McLaren for 2005, triumphed in Germany at Hockenheim in August last year.

Finland's Kimi Raikkonen, the Colombian's future team mate, crossed the line a second behind with local favourite Rubens Barrichello third in a Ferrari.

Ferrari and Michael Schumacher had already clinched both Formula One championships long ago but Montoya's win ended their hopes of seeing out the season with 16 wins in 18 races. Schumacher has won 13 of them.

The German, who took his seventh title in Belgium in August, battled up to seventh place after starting 18th on the grid.

Barrichello had started on pole position for the second year running but third place, 24.0 seconds off the lead, was still a breakthrough for the man who grew up within earshot of the Interlagos circuit.

It was his first finish in a decade at his home race and he became the first Brazilian to score points in Brazil since 1994, the year in which three times champion Ayrton Senna was killed in a Williams at Imola.

It was also Barrichello's first appearance on his home podium.

If Barrichello could not win then Montoya, his fellow South American and friend who idolised Senna as a boy, was the next best result for the fired-up Brazilian crowd.

Renault's Fernando Alonso was fourth, not enough to prevent Honda-powered BAR from sealing second place in the constructors' championship.

Ralf Schumacher was fifth for Williams in his last race for the team before joining Toyota, ahead of BAR's Japanese Takuma Sato whose British team mate Jenson Button retired on lap four with a blown engine that had been smoky on the grid.

Brazilian Felipe Massa took the final point for Sauber after leading the race for two laps.

Raikkonen had led at the end of the first lap before Barrichello took over on the fourth, handing over to Massa when he pitted on the sixth.

Alonso also led for 11 laps before the race settled down into a battle between Raikkonen and Montoya until supermodel Giselle Bundchen brought down the chequered flag.

Jaguar said farewell to Formula One with a bang and a whimper, Mark Webber and Christian Klien colliding embarrassingly on the 24th lap

The incident dumped Australian Webber out of the race while Austrian Klien limped back to the pits and rejoined in 15th place and a lap down.

The team are up for sale, with no buyer announced yet, after owners Ford said they were quitting Formula One.