Fast but erratic - Juan Pablo Montoya’s F1 career
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- čas přidán 10. 11. 2023
- Juan Pablo Montoya was arguably one of the fastest drivers in F1, and a driver that arguably had the speed to win a title. Although he would achieve success outside of F1, it feels like his 5 and a half year stint in the sport, was a missed opportunity. In this video, I talk about Montoya's time in F1.
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Leaves McLaren and next season, they are a winning team again. He could’ve won in 07 or 08 if he stayed
JPM a one lap wonder? Hardly. Inconsistent? The stats debunk that: Montoya stood on the podium in every third race he entered without ever having the best car. That's PRECISELY how you build a championship season. On speed, over a single lap in the same car as Schumacher? Montoya was better under pressure as we learned when Schumacher cracked at Jerez and Adelaide. And those weren't mistakes of a learning curve like Montoya getting distracted alla Senna crashing at Monaco or Hakkinen crashing in Germany and crying in the woods. No Schumacher cracking under pressure was some other strange thing where something really sinsiter came to the surface. And lest we forget the infamous parking job at Monaco agaisnt Alonso. Montoya's undoing was the opposite problem, it was not of some deep seated insecurity but more far too much overconfidence and never quite enough diligence outside of car. He leaned entirely on his natural talent and didnt work Senna and Prost levels of preparation outside the car. He just was maybe too cavalier about his feedback for such a nerd dominated sport. But man was there raw unrestrained talent. He stole like a thief in the night SIX CONSECUTIVE pole positions against the greatest F1 car ever (The Ferrari) piloted by a seven times F1 champion driver. No driver in the Second best car has ever equalled that feat against the best car since. The pole position at Monaco was maybe one of the surreal as there was not enough space between Montoya's rear wheel and the armco barrier to pass a sheet of paper. I will say that's hands down the greatest lap he ever put down. Then you had the overtakings on Schumacher which took a level of confidence no one has shown against a reigning world champion since either. And that's what we lost with Montoya an absolute Alpha unafraid of anyone's hype train. Montoya was not the least big awe struck by Schumacher the way so many were awe struck by Senna and Stewart. The press conference after the French Grand Prix where Schumacher pulled his trademark move of running drivers off the road Montoya did not hesitate to tell Schumacher to his face sitting mere inches from this Ferrari Hero that he was "either blind or stupid if he claimed not to see him". And even cracked a memorable joke that had the reporters all laughing commenting on the video where Schumacher is looking right at JPM as hes runnig him off "no he didn't see me there either". This enraged Schumacher and Ross Brawn...which everyone loved. Montoya was the only driver we've seen that was just pure fire in and out of the car. Unfortunately he left Williams for the worst man in the sport Ron Dennis a real vindictive and petty man who lost Senna to Williams and later lost Hamilton to Mercedes. Montoya was ill suited as a pure oversteer driver in a hopelessly and inherently understeer car. Kimi a born understeer driver took perfectly to the McLaren. The whole move was a disaster he should have bullied his was into RedBull and finished out his career there. But the big missed opportunity was that Montoya was not put in a Williams in 1996 and 1997. He was already testing the last slick tyred Williams Renault F1 car and he was not lacking for pace. He didn't re-enter F1 until he was nearly 25 which was ridiculous long for such a phenom who was the only driver overtaking cars in the F2 race at Monaco and taking to the grass at Monza to complete overtakings with a WOT. If you look at the other rising stars of the time you see F1 bosses were far too conservative in driver selection. Kimi entered without ever having raced a full season in F2. Jenson entered without even a full season in cars. Or maybe I got that backwards. I can't remember 25 years ago. Either way the JPM in a Williams Renault and he's winning a title. Montoya absolutely steam rolled every driver in his first Indy car season in what was the golden era of slick tired manual shifting lighting fast hand eye coordination era of open wheel racing. While enjoyable to see Monty cakewalk the Indy 500 it was in retrospect a collosal waste of his talent that could have been spent being the #2 driver in the Williams Renault. And his talent was squandered going to NASCAR in Ganassi's midling car that never had the funding of Hendrick or Penske. When you put Montoya in the best car he got it done.
I think "Erratic" is an insult for him... For a driver this level and quality... 30 podiums, 7 wins in such a short F1 time... There are drivers today with 6 years and 1 or no wins in F1... He's an Indy Champion, F2 Champion, IMSA Champion, 3 time Daytona 24 winner, 2 time Indy 500 winner, 15 wins in IndyCar, victories in Nascar, IMSA, the WEC, that's not "erratic" to me...
Verstappen is the white Montoya, so this erratic argument is baseless.
I think the better title for this video is "fast but unlucky" instead erratic because there is driver more erratics than him. Montoya is very underrated in Formula 1 and that it's a fact. He deserved to be champion as Gilles Villenueve, Carlos Reutemann, Ronnie Peterson, Bruce McLaren and others great drivers.
JPM also had the lap record at monza for many years it was broken recently i think
You tend to be more erratic when you have a car with very poor engine reliability and if you look closely at the videos with the onboard camera in the Williams you could realize that the driver had to fight a lot with the rudder every time he entered a curve to not lose control of the car unlike a Ferrari or a McLaren where it could be seen that they were much more stable cars and it was much easier for the driver to tune the car and thus run less risk of losing control entering the more complicated curves, in my opinion making a Williams able to fight races against a crushing Ferrari was already too much merit, Montoya wasted a great opportunity to fight to win more races in 2005 due to his injury and not allowing himself to adapt more quickly to his new car, as a result of his injury and the bad comments from the British press, his relationship with Ron Dennis broke up and before he signed with Nascar there were already rumors that Hamilton was going to be signed for 2007, Montoya seeing that he was not going to to have a seat with a competitive team for 2007, he preferred to leave f1
Montoya was cheated out of his 2003 title by Ferrari and FIA. He was going to take it easily before the Michelin tyre ban. Ferrari were lagging behind in times and complained the Michelin tyres expanded when in motion, which was still allowed in the rules. Bridgestones also did the same but not quite as much. In anticipation of Michelin being banned and their dealings with the FIA. Ferrari and Bridgestone made another tyre to make sure they were ahead with the new proposed tyre rulings they wanted. So with only 3 races left and Montoya 1 point behind Schumacher, FIA made new rules that the tyre cannot expand when in motion. Keeping Michael and Ferrari at the the top. It shows pure corruption from F1 and Ferrari to make new rules to enable them to win. Even when there was nothing illegal about the Michelin tyres in the rulebook. Absolutely disgraceful
Biggest wasted talent of the 21st century, no doubt about it.
Michilin were forced to change the construction due to a protest by Ferrari, Montoya was also blocked by a Sauber for two laps, leaving him no chance to catch Schumacher
Growing up as a kid in that time, I absolutely loved Montoya to the point I used to call him “One Montoya”. He was the one who stood up to the Red Baron on the track which Brazil 2001 and Europe 2003 the 2 standout moments.
2:28
My king without a crown...
Honestly, Juan-Pablo Montoya's "Fast but Erratic" label matched 1-to-1 with the Williams-BMW's that he drove; Those BMW V10's were the most powerful engines in F1 at the time, but after Williams lost Adrian Newey, the chassis & aerodynamic development divisions lost their way and the cars were rather a handful to handle compared to the Ferraris of the same era; which while relatively down on power still had enough to get the job done but were much more well-sorted in terms of handling.
He always been my 4 wheels motorsport idol. Since his F3000 days.
Despite the number of mistakes you mentioned he made in 2003, it's clear that the endless mechanical failures (hydraulics, engine, clutch) played a significant part in his hopes to do even better. He can't look erratic for his mistakes, it's rather Williams which had erratic reliability.
First video of yours I have seen and it was fantastic! Subscribed. I don't disagree with any of your points at the end and 'What if" is a perfect analogy. I am a fan as I said and I would never place call him "the greatest driver never to win a championship" The benchmark for me is Carlos Reutemann whose resume far exceeds Montoya. 11 years. 13 wins. 44 podiums. One second place in the World Championship ( losing by 1 point to Nelson Piquet), three 3rd places and one 4th.
14:46
Think the is your best video to date. Improving with each one. Keep it up. 👌
Great stuff mate!!!