A favourite of the motor racing purist; a winner of seven Grands Prix, one Champ Car title and is now a two-time Indy 500 winner. My first profile is on Juan Pablo Montoya, a driver whose talent in Formula 1 was never fully recognised as it was across the Atlantic. Here is the Juan Pablo Montoya biography.
Montoya’s beginnings in Formula 1 was with Williams in a testing capacity whilst competing in International Formula 3000, a series he won in 1998, beating another future F1 driver in Nick Heidfeld. As part of a swap agreement between Frank Williams and Champ Car team owner Chip Ganassi, Montoya entered the 1999 CART series with Ganassi racing with Ganassi’s 97 and 98 CART champion Alessandro Zanardi moving back to Formula 1. The Italian failed to score a point in a miserable return to F1 whilst Montoya became the first rookie CART champion since Nigel Mansell seven years previously. After a season of such success, Montoya decided to stay put for another season, despite Zanardi leaving Williams at the end of 99 to return to America. The 2000 season brought reliability issues which left him unable to retain his title, but he agreed to race full-time with Williams alongside Ralf Schumacher in 2001.
After a steady start in the opening two races, Montoya’s talent was fully recognised in Brazil. Under safety car conditions in second place, Montoya made full use of his experience with rolling starts to overtake Michael Schumacher at turn one. A maiden F1 win looked on the cards until a collision with the lapped Jos Verstappen, taking him out of the race, but in 38 laps, Montoya’s reputation as a hard racer with raw speed in Formula 1 was assured. His first podium was achieved with a second place in Spain two races later. After mistakes of inexperience causing retirements in Monaco and Canada, he finished an impressive second in the European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. At the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, Montoya used all of his Williams’s powerful BMW engine to secure his first pole position, but retired with engine failure. His maiden win came at Monza with an assured drive, capitalising on poor pit work by Ferrari, costing Rubens Barrichello the race in front of the Tifosi.
After a learning curve successfully rounded, 2002 brought more exciting driving from Montoya, although it was a season that yielded no wins. He claimed seven pole positions, five of which came consecutively, but Ralf Schumacher brought Williams their one and only win of 2002 in Malaysia, with the team struggling to match the race pace of Ferrari, who ran out comfortable champions.
With significant rule changes made to make F1 closer, Montoya finally had a realistic shot at the World Championship. However, it would be a season of rued opportunities and bad luck costing him dearly. After spinning in the lead in Australia with only a handful of laps remaining – handing victory to David Coulthard – his next best chance of a win came in Austria. He took the lead after Schumacher’s Ferrari briefly caught fire during a routine pit-stop, but his BMW engine expired soon after. At the next race in Monaco, Montoya’s title challenge was kick-started after showing maturity and skill to hold of Raikkonen and Schumacher to win the race, leaving the championship wide open. After a third and three consecutive second place finishes, Montoya kept his title challenge going with a commanding victory at Hockenheim, in front of Schumacher’s fans. However, his title challenge came to an end at the penultimate race in America after a disappointing sixth place finish, caused by receiving a penalty after a collision with Barrichello.
After a close 2003, it was a case of normal serving resuming in 2004, with Ferrari running out comfortable champions again, with Montoya’s only win coming at the final round in Brazil. It would prove to be his last race for Williams, having signed for McLaren for 2005 earlier in the season, leaving relations strained with the Williams team throughout the latter half of the season. It would prove to be a frustrating time, often complaining of how the McLaren handled, and even missing two races through injury, whilst at the same time, team-mate Raikkonen finished second in the championship after mounting a competitive challenge against eventual champion, Fernando Alonso. There were moments to savour, however, with three impressive wins at Silverstone, Monza and Interlagos.
2006 started badly for Montoya with the discovery that McLaren had signed Alonso for the 2007 season and decided not to take up the option to keep Montoya for another season. The car was less competitive than the previous season due to problems with engine mapping, as well as continued underperforming from Montoya himself. With a lack of options elsewhere, Montoya announced he was to race in NASCAR in 2007, reuniting with Chip Ganassi. He was offered a quick get-out deal of his contract by McLaren, provided he resigned from receiving any pay-out from it. He decided not to continue until the end of the season, in which he finished eighth in the Championship standings.
After seven seasons in NASCAR, during which he became the first and so far only driver to be part of a 24 Hours of Daytona winner three times, Montoya decided to return to IndyCar for 2014 with Penske. After an impressive fourth place in the overall 2014 standings, Montoya, at the time of writing, leads the 2015 series with a second Indy 500 win in the bag, his first victory at the brickyard since 2000. At the age of 39, he is something of a senior figure in American motorsport, but it seems there is still life in the old dog yet.
Montoya’s reputation in Formula 1 was that of the fearless and determined racer, unfazed by anyone regardless of reputation, which generally was justified, but it could be said his apparent raison d’etre to defeat Michael Schumacher on several occasions proved to be his downfall, particularly during the 2002 season.
The first of many incidents with Schumacher came at the Austrian Grand Prix in 2001. With Schumacher giving chase to the Colombian, he attempted to overtake him on the outside at turn two. Montoya locked his wheels, sending him and Schumacher wide and off the circuit. The two were not involved in any other major incident – overtaking duels aside – until the second round of 2002 in Malaysia. At the start, Montoya attempted to overtake Schumacher on the outside at turn one. Schumacher pushed Montoya wide, with the Ferrari’s front wing being taken off in the process, sending Montoya off the circuit. To add insult to injury, Montoya was judged to have been the perpetrator of the collision, and became the recipient of Formula 1’s first drive through penalty. At the next round in Brazil, Montoya started on pole, but a bad start let in Schumacher, who led at the exit of turn one. On the run down to turn four, Montoya got in Schumacher’s slipstream, but Schumacher, defending his position, braked with an overzealous Montoya right behind him, and this time it was Williams’s front wing that came off. No action was taken by the stewards but Montoya was left at the back, complaining to his mechanics about Schumacher’s actions, much to their exasperation. Another notable incident came at the European Grand Prix in 2003, when Montoya battled with Schumacher for second position. At the Dunlop Kurve, Montoya overtook Schumacher from the outside, sending Schumacher into as spin as his front wheels touched the kerb. After the race, Schumacher thought there was no problem with the manoeuvre, but Ferrari’s technical director Ross Brawn did not agree and labelled Montoya as “not a classy driver”.
While it would be totally fair to contribute Montoya’s lack of overall success down to never having the car to win consistently, I believe it would be fair to say that he did not possess all the key attributes that most champions are blessed with such as the tactical capabilities of drivers like Schumacher and Alonso, as well as a calm demeanour behind the wheel, letting his fiery temperament get the better of him on a number of occasions. Despite these points, it would be churlish to suggest Montoya was not a good driver. On his day he could mix it alongside the very best and more successful than a number of drivers who have attempted careers in Formula 1 after racing in America. I think today’s Formula 1 would be a damn sight more exciting with drivers like him around.
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