Juan Pablo Montoya

Well having had a look to see if he had his own thread i thought that Montoya is long over due one.

Juan Pablo Montoya divided alot of F1 fans opinions of him.

Some thought he was a bit of a dill and others thought he was quite cool.

Myself i thought he was a man with a big ego with bags of talent but never let it out.

Montoya entered F1 in 2001 replacing Jenson Button at BMW Williams and partnered Ralf Schumacher for 4 years before moving to Mclaren in 2005 to join Kimi Raikkonen at the team.

Montoya announced himself to the F1 world with a sensational move on the Legendary Michael Schumacher at turn one in Brazil 2001. But his F1 career didn't get off to the best of starts, he retired from his first two races. However at the Brazilian GP we were about to crown Montoya with his first F1 race win until Jos Verstappen's Arrows took him out of the race whilst in the lead.

Montoya did eventually score his first points in the 5th Round at The Spanish GP finishing a brilliant second behind Michael Schumacher.

2001 was a mixed year for Montoya, he only managed to finish 6 races, claiming 3 Poles and 4 podiums which included his maiden Grand Prix Victory at Monza.

In 2002 Montoya was mainly the best of the rest his Williams team car was never able to match the Dominance of the Ferrari team. He matched them on a few occasions but Ferrari won 15 of the 17 GP's that year. However Montoya did manage to get 7 Pole Positions.

In 2003, this was the year when we saw a very good championship battle between Montoya, Raikkonen and Schumacher. Montoya finished third in the Championship having falling out of the Championship race with one race to go. Montoya did however win the race that most F1 drivers would love to win the 2003 Monaco GP.

In 2004, Williams just lacked the pace of the Ferrari's and Mclaren's. After much promise in the early stages of the season but that promise faded. However at the Last race of the season Montoya won a closely fought battle with Mclaren's Kimi Raikkonen to win the Brazilian GP and sign off his Williams career in style.

In 2005, Montoya moved to Mclaren Mercedes to Partner Kimi Raikkonen. He finished his debut race finishing 6th and scoring his first points at Mclaren. Montoya then had a mysterious shoulder injury caused by coming off a motorbike. However at the time we were all told it was an injury from a game of tennis. Montoya then went on to claim his first victory for Mclaren at the British GP, he profitted from his teammates bad luck. Montoya went on to win 2 more races that year in Italy and Brazil to finish 4th in the championship.

In 2006, Montoya had a decent start to the year in a car that wasn't great at all. Montoya finished a best placed 2nd at the Monaco grand prix. However Montoya's year was about to turn into a nightmare. At the United States Grand Prix he caused a multiple pile-up and took out a number of drivers including his teammate Kimi Raikkonen. After that Montoya was immediately given the sack and was replaced by Pedro De La Rosa for the rest of the season.


Montoya had his good moments but he had many bad and really should have been in F1 longer than he was. But in his short spell in F1 he brought some much needed personality.
 
FB- How can you say he didn't belong in an F1 car when he finished a very close 3rd in the WDC standings in 2003, in a far-from-best car?
 
FB- How can you say he didn't belong in an F1 car when he finished a very close 3rd in the WDC standings in 2003, in a far-from-best car?

Ralph Schumacher won 6 Grands Prix and finished 4th in the WDC 2 seasons in succession. Is it the car? Is it the driver? J-P M 2003 - Car. RSC 2001 & 2002 - Car.
 
No, not stupid, per se - just incapable of playing the waiting game and, as a consequence, queering his own pitch. I loved his enthusiasm and speed and, very occasionally, his recklessness - ultimately none of it did him any good because he put no thought into what he was trying to achieve.

Well I think he did put thought in but he wasnt prepared to sell his soul like some drivers do. He was a fair racer,hard but fair and as you say fast and enthusiatic. Also beathtakingly exciting. But he didnt sell out. Ok he didnt win but he left with his integrity intact. You cant say that about them all, and some of them are world champions, muliple even!
 
Well I think he did put thought in but he wasnt prepared to sell his soul like some drivers do. He was a fair racer,hard but fair and as you say fast and enthusiatic. Also beathtakingly exciting. But he didnt sell out. Ok he didnt win but he left with his integrity intact. You cant say that about them all, and some of them are world champions, muliple even!

Please define to me how a driver sell's out. JPM played the sponsor game just as much as anyone - or are you suggesting because he didn't learn from his mistakes and adjust his driving style to one that would bring him the title that he somehow has more integrity?
 
Montoya - not selling out...

rpm_g_montoya_b1_300.jpg


LOL
 
FB- Do you seriously believe that Liuzzi could have acheived the same or better results in the 2003 Williams?
 
I'm not saying Montoya wasn't without talent just that he wasn't as good as many built him up to be. Let's face it many mediocre drivers have achieved great things in exceptional cars - two are currently sitting on the grid in 2012, Webber and Massa.
 
Please define to me how a driver sell's out. JPM played the sponsor game just as much as anyone - or are you suggesting because he didn't learn from his mistakes and adjust his driving style to one that would bring him the title that he somehow has more integrity?
I wasnt meaning taking sponsors or learning/not learning from mistakes. I was meaning not liking and therfore not accepting decisions made purely for political reasons. Not accepting a second fiddle role like Massa has and like Barichello did. Not driving dirty to win like Schumacher did. Not walking over your team mate like Schumacher did and Alonso does. I didn't want to name names but since you missed my point I have. JPM wanted to race racing cars not win at any cost. Well thats how I saw him anyway. he saw the way things were going, didnt like it, got out.
Edit. And he was talented. And he was a real racer.
 
Well I'm not sure how he can say he doesn't drive dirty or doesn't want to win at all costs... But maybe that's just me :p
 
I wasnt meaning taking sponsors or learning/not learning from mistakes. I was meaning not liking and therfore not accepting decisions made purely for political reasons. Not accepting a second fiddle role like Massa has and like Barichello did. Not driving dirty to win like Schumacher did. Not walking over your team mate like Schumacher did and Alonso does. I didn't want to name names but since you missed my point I have. JPM wanted to race racing cars not win at any cost. Well thats how I saw him anyway. he saw the way things were going, didnt like it, got out.
Edit. And he was talented. And he was a real racer.

What does he was a 'real racer' mean? Others don't bother racing? Its all subjective - as is 'driving dirty to win' - he had a fair few coming togethers and incidents with people to the point where he was declared dangerous - anyone remember Monaco? -

As for second fiddle - he was very much second fiddle to Kimi and couldn't cope with it so had a wobbley and stomped off out of F1.

It can all be viewed from different angles can't it? All depends if your a fan or not. So lets not throw around statements like 'real racer' and 'sell out'.

Personally I think he was very talented but faced with the might that was Schmacher he didn't stand a chance and come 2003 he realised it and his ego couldn't cope with it.
 
What does he was a 'real racer' mean? Others don't bother racing? Its all subjective - as is 'driving dirty to win' - he had a fair few coming togethers and incidents with people to the point where he was declared dangerous - anyone remember Monaco? -

As for second fiddle - he was very much second fiddle to Kimi and couldn't cope with it so had a wobbley and stomped off out of F1.

It can all be viewed from different angles can't it? All depends if your a fan or not. So lets not throw around statements like 'real racer' and 'sell out'.

Personally I think he was very talented but faced with the might that was Schmacher he didn't stand a chance and come 2003 he realised it and his ego couldn't cope with it.

Oh he could handle Shumacher. Scared he certainly wasnt. And he didnt play second fiddle to Kimi. Granted the final McLaren car suited Kimi better than Juan, but he wasnt playing second fiddle.
Im not saying he didnt have accidents, Thats what happens when you race cars but he didn't take other drivers out deliberately as some drivers do.
As you say, how you view him will depend on whether you like what you see, whether your a fan. Well I am, so Im putting the positive view.
 
Oh he could handle Shumacher. Scared he certainly wasnt. And he didnt play second fiddle to Kimi. Granted the final McLaren car suited Kimi better than Juan, but he wasnt playing second fiddle.
Im not saying he didnt have accidents, Thats what happens when you race cars but he didn't take other drivers out deliberately as some drivers do.
As you say, how you view him will depend on whether you like what you see, whether your a fan. Well I am, so Im putting the positive view.

If he could handle Schumacher how come he never beat him? Even in 03 when he had the best car? and if he wasn't playing second fiddle to Kimi why did he play his back-up driver for Kimi's 05 championship challenge?

As for him not being dangerous - I think David Coulthard, Jaques Villeneurve and Ralf Schumacher might disagree with you after the incident in quali coming up Casino hill - and thats without even asking Michael after the tunnel incident and all those people he took off in Canada.

Believe it or not I quite liked Montoya but lets not paint him as something he isn't and glorifying him as some sort of true pure racing driver. He wasn't he had a lot of skill and flare, he had a lot of potential but unfourtunatly he took part in a era when there were drivers with more and he cracked under the pressure of it eventually and sulked off out of F1 mid-season.

Good job for you he did actually Racecub or we might very well have had to wait a tad longer for a certain Lewis Hamilton.
 
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