Montoya

[Cyprian]

Hey Everyone,
Who else thinks Williams is making a huge mistake taking on Juan Pablo Montoya for 2 years in place of the promising Button. Montoya was good last year granted, but he sucks this time round, whether it's just lethargy, impatience or just his being a flash in the pan remains to be seen. the problem is it will be seen in a Williams next year - and probably a good one.
Patrick Head himself said IN autosport that Montoya needs to work harder on the technical side of his driving and rely less on talent, this must assuredly be a recipe for F1 failure. I predict a swift kick into porsche supercup or whichever void Zanardi disappeared into.

[botsquad]

sir f. is no fool.

juan is the real deal. indy 500 winner first time out.

cart champion fist time out.

chip sold his soul to toyota and he's paying for it now.

[jvilleneuve2000]

It isnt Montoyas fault that he is having a bad season, he has been in the lead of a few races and retired. He certainly isnt a flash in the pan, he did a very good job as williams test driver in 1998, the year that he won the f3000 championship. As test driver at williams he did 1000's of miles in a groved tyre, narrow track f1 car. So he has experiance in a modern f1 car unlike Zinardi.

BTW the porsche supercup has alot of talented drivers, and Zinardi is in line for a top CART drive next season.

[R]

I agree with Botsquad and JV2K. The way I see it, sir Frank really has had a luxury problem in this situation, three great drivers to choose from, which is of course why he has secured an option to get Button back in 2003.

Montoya is the next greatest thing to happen to F1, and you better believe it. In an equal car, I have no doubt he would give any current F1 driver a run for his money, including TGF. It will however be interesting to see how he adjusts at first, especially with such a strong team-mate as Ralf. Eventually I have to say my money would be on Montoya to have the upper hand though.

[botsquad]

porsche supercup (last race of season) is support race for the usgp. never seen those boys run.

[Marshal]

Hey Cyprian,

I'm afraid I agree with everyone else here, JPM is the man. Also, I'm not sure how you can say he's off form this year when he's lead almost as many laps as he had this time last year.

[Valve Bounce]

I don't profess to be a regular viewer of CART races. However last week my better half taped more than half the Elkhart Lake race for me by sheer chance after taping her program, to the point where Montoya's car broke after he took the lead.
I was most impressed by Montoya. He came through the field like I couldn't believe, then he had the patience to drive carefully in fourth spot, biding his time until the opportunity came with the pit stop, to second, then he took the lead as if he was destined to be up front. I felt he is a step above the rest of the CART drivers.
However, how he fits in with Ralf at Williams remains to be seen. Bunsen made a great team mate for Ralf. I felt that had Frank kept Bunsen, he would have had a great No.2 to support Ralf next year. I don't mean a No.2 who is expected to give his win to the No. 1, but a supportive No. 2 who won't run the No. 1 ragged just so he can prove himself. There is a difference - obey team orders to stop fighting with each other at the expense of eliminating both cars.
Getting back to my impression of Montoya, he has all the hallmarks of a future champion, but we should give him time and space to settle down. God!!! I hate these long winded posts!!!

[Minardi fan]

Montoya may have the speed, but he lacks the temperament. The last few CART races have shown this.

[Dino IV]

Well to put things short: Montoya's abilities rectify every inch of being in F1. Even more: of being in a F1 topseat. Ofcourse when someone comes in and gets his topdrive, someone else has to leave. In the case of the BMW-Williams squad, the one driver I wouldn't miss is Ralf. Not that he's a bad driver (which he is not, ermmm well at least not really really bad) but because he stands for everything I dislike in a driver. His personality is almost as pale as his driver's overall (although some ladies seem to appreciate his presence), his quotes are exchangeable with the ones of the team's press-officer and what he shows on the track is even less exciting. He's fairly up to speed and in the meantime performing fairly consistent, but his driving style is really so average. Even Diniz' style is more exciting to watch. Just in very rare cases Ralf shows a nice action. But those occassions are that rare that I couldn't care less if he's out of a seat. In other words, keep that Button fella and ditch Ralf for the Juan and Only.

[Minardi fan]

Ralf is a future WDC, with an excellent driving style now he has tamed it. Just wait 'til Stephie reads what you just posted Dino...

(Be afraid, be very afraid...)

[Ace]

Montoya can and will beat Ralf and Button any day of the week. He could drive blindfolded and still be quicker than those 2 overly hyped average drivers. Have you people already forgotten that Fishy beat the hell out Ralf in Jordan. (They were both rookies then).

[Sharky]

Montoya has the ability to turn F1 into the most exciting spectacle or turning it into a very boring show.

A great spectacle because just seeing him drive is....I mean....I could spend all the race watching in the in car camera how he drives and forget about the rest of the race. The guy is pure guts and pure talent.

However he could also make it very boring because he's so f***** good that we could see race after race after race of a guy going into the lead and staying there without anyone ever challenging him.

BTW. This year....I think he has proven that he's still the best in CART he has the most laps lead with over 3 times the amount of the guy that's following him in that list and I've already lost count of how many poles he's had. Won at indy in just his first run in an IRL car...It's not his fault that he's fallen victim of an unreliable car. Food for thought. Last weekend at elkhart lake he started 12. By lap 2 he was 4th and by lap 10 (I think) he was the leader.....however the gearbox failed on him.

[Valve Bounce]

I THOUGHT HE STARTED FROM FURTHER BACK THAN 12TH, AND THAT IT TOOK HIM MORE THAN LAP 2 TO GET TO fourth. However, as good as I think he is, I don't want to get carried away, because he will be racing against the big boys in F1 and not a bunch of has beens or wannabees. To be fair to Montoya, I think it will take him some time to get near the top - maybe two or three seasons. We will know by Albert Park when he qualifies with Ralf.

[Handle]

I have no doubt that Montoya is a very talented young driver, however, I would caution everyone against making comments saying that Montoya is going to be challenging for the top right away (by top, I mean top 3). Even in a competitive car, I don't know how successful he'd be. I'll admit his praise is higher than most of his rookie predecessors, but still... I remember back when I heard Alex Wurz was going to be the next big champion. And now, people are talking about how far down the F1 ladder he's going. What I'm trying to say is not to overestimate Montoya's skills. He's shown it in CART, but all you have to do is look at Zanardi to see that it doesn't really mean much. So he won at the Indy500 -- very impressive, but to me, this doesn't tell me much about his F1 performance as ovals and street circuits are two very different things.

To say that Montoya would give Schumacher a run for his money in the same car, to me, is slighting Schumacher in favor of overflowing praise for Montoya. I remember his times as a test driver (I'll admit I don't watch much CART) but they didn't impress me that much.

If he can pull off half of the points Villeneuve scored in his rookie season, I would be very impressed. Many of the people on this thread have implied that Montoya, upon arrival in F1, would be the best, or second-best driver in F1. To me, that's a stretch. Maybe in 2 or 3 years. But to me, the order of talent in F1 is solidly:

1.) Villeneuve
2.) Schumacher
3.) Hakkinen

and if Montoya does reasonably well, he might slot in right behind Hakkinen. But to put him at the very top is, in my opinion, irrational exuberance and excessive confidence in a rookie driver.

[kuchi]

I think montoya has the skills to step into a formula 1 car. Eventhough it hasn´t been a good year for him (asuming good is not winning indy), he has proved everybody that if the car is right, the other guys have to race for second place. And having ralphie as a partner is ging to be good for both of them, each have different styles of driving but they´re young and good. Although i would´nt be surprised if montoya and his driving will shadow poor shumi jr, may be if ralph sees that he has to fight for recognition of his own team, he´ll become a better driver.

[renniesmill]

i dont understand all these "williams's mistake to dump button to montoya" stuffs... i thought at the beginning of the 2000 season, williams 2nd driver was supposed to be a year stand-in until montoya arrives in 2001??? it was supposed to be junqueira in the very first place until this button guy suddenly popped out and outpaced junqueira so williams made the decision to sign button instead???

with all credits to button, and with respect, but shouldn't he knows that he is only a stand-in???

[Dino IV]

I am off, Minardi Fan, to a safe house somewhere in Alaska

[Jay]

renniesmill, Button may only be a stand in, however he has proved to be able to run with the front runners, and is getting better every race. He still does look like a superstar in the making.

I should remind you that Micheal Schumacher was also just a stand in at Jordan for the Belgian GP.

On the other hand, we don't know what Montoya will do in an F1 race yet. Zanardi also showed some very competitive times in preseason testing, but once the season got under way, he was lost. The same could easily be true with Montoya. Although, for the sake of Cart, I hope it is not. As if Montoya fails it will show that Cart is a lot further off the top than most think.

[Dino IV]

Oh come on, Schumacher was immediately at par with Piquet at Benetton! Button is averagely 0,6 s slower than Ralf!
I can't remember any 'superstar in the making' that was that long that much slower than his teammate ... that is anyone who eventually became a superstar.
Button's perfomance is even less impressive than Zonta's compared to Villeneuve or Heidfeld's compared to Alesi's.

I remember lots of examples of allegedly 'superstars in the making' who showed a similar 'bad' season as Button did - staying more than half a sec slower than their experienced teammates, never getting on par - and if one thing is certain about driver's like that, is that when they don't make the leap forward immediately they'll never make it.

The thing that makes Button falsely shine compared to his fellow 'superstars in the making never to make it though' is not his own performance but solely his luck that he drives the third best car in the field.

[R]

Handle: I'm not slighting TGF. I think TGF is one of the best drivers of all time, but I also think Montoya will be regarded as one of the best drivers of all time come ten years from now. That is of course just an opinion based on what he has achieved so far, which is pretty impressive, to say the least. He too of course has to prove himself in F1, something which I have a strong feeling he will.

Dino IV: Piquet's last year at Benetton wasn't very impressive if my memory serves me correctly. And by that I mean compared to the great career he had before. Comparing TGF's performance v Piquet with Button's performance v Ralf in order to "find out" whether or not Button is a superstar in the making seems rather strange to me. You can't always make such a comparison even between team-mates, because the machinery isn't always equal. For instance last race Ralf had more horsepower in his engine than Button, because they gave their new engine to the "number 1" driver. And one last point: I think the drivers are making the Williams-BMW (still in it's first year remember) look better than it is, not the other way around.

[renniesmill]

hi jay,

yes i will take your point
but what i meant was williams had no choice but to drop button since its what it was agreed in the very first place.

[Jay]

Oh, your probably right there renniesmill. After all, the Montoya to Williams in 2001 deal has been around before Montoya even won last year's Cart Championship.

[renniesmill]

yes, and i hope montoya will do a bloody good job next year otherwise it will be a waste for both button and williams!

[Valve Bounce]

Bunsen is very young, and he had not even reached the top in F3 when drafted into F1. Many, including Moss, thought he was coming to F1 too early. He has shown that he is very capable without throwing the car into the shrubbery like many young guns when they first arrive in F1. I personally think that he is going about it the right way; he has impressed the people that count, and going to Benneton next year, is definitely not a step down. Benneton, with the experimental Renault works engine may be able to fight with the big boys at the front of the grid, provided it doesn't go bang of course. I would laugh like mad if he qualified ahead of Montoya in the Williams - sort of poetic justice.

[renniesmill]

hope you are right!
with flavio in charge and the renault engine, i am afraid bunsen wont settle in as easy as he did for williams, afterall williams is an all english team...
what do you think?