Mercurial Genius
To anybody with the patience to think it through, Juan Pablo Montoya's shock announcement yesterday was no more than a face saving manoeuvre. To leave the pinnacle of motor sports and opt to drive in the United States National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) seems insane. But it isn't. Montoya needed to do something to show the world that he was not a has been. Yes, NASCAR may not have the glamour associated with Formula One. Yes, NASCAR, won't produce as healthy a pay packet as he has enjoyed in Formula One thus far. And yes, the name "Juan Pablo Montoya" will diminish in star quality. But it was necessary to do something. It would not be in keeping with Montoya's overwhelming pride and arrogance to allow commentators to be speaking about him as an unwanted product. Not for Montoya the humiliation David Coulthard suffered in desperately scrambling around for a drive after he was ditched by McLaren. Never. Montoya had to do something to show that he had the last word. I think he knows that his assertion of not having run out of options will be viewed by the thinking public as, at best, disingenuous, but he does not care. Montoya has to have the last word. And he has had it.
The mercurial nature of the man's temperament was what ultimately did for the Colombian driving genius. On a good day, nobody overtakes better than Juan Pablo Montoya. He launches his car into corners with a fearlessness bordering on lunacy. But the operative words here are "a good day". For Montoya has lots of very bad days. It all depends on how he is feeling. If he had learned to restrain himself, to think rationally through a situation rather than react in a red mist of fury at every provocation, Juan Pablo Montoya would be a world champion. He did not and he is not.
I will never forget the manner in which Montoya chose to leave BMW-Williams. In a genuine cock-up, BMW-Williams made a mess of a pit-stop strategy during the 2003 French Grand Prix and ruined Montoya's race for him. Bizarrely, Montoya concluded that the team had deliberately messed his race up so as to favour his team-mate, Ralf Schumacher, who went on to win the race. He lost his temper and swore at his bosses. In a fit of pique he immediately signed with McLaren when there were eighteen months left to run on his BMW-Williams contract. This more than anything else was the defining moment of his Formula One career. This is the point at which he ballsed it up.
"Juan is a passionate character and sometimes this means he makes impulsive decisions which lead him to impulsive conclusions," said Patrick Head, the Williams technical director, after the French grand prix row. "Once he had made his decision [to leave] that was that." He added: "In France [in 2003] he went into a sulk and we couldn't have a situation where he accused the team of being incompetent. I felt this was not something we could say nothing about."
The move to McLaren was disastrous. I remember Chipo wondering why he had done it. He did not fit the McLaren mould. Montoya was too much of an individual. The move I would have liked to see him make was to Ferrari as the replacement of Rubens Barrichello. I don't think he ever even contemplated this. For Montoya it was unthinkable that he could join a team where he was required to be number two. Ironically, that is precisely what Ron Dennis made him at McLaren.
Timing in F1 is everything. Your moment has to be chosen very carefully or you are sunk. By the middle of last year Montoya should have seen the writing on the wall and started looking for another drive. Opting to spend another season at McLaren was the death of him. In this transitional year there are no drives left. Juan Pablo Montoya realised that the end had come. Nobody wanted him to drive for them in 2007. He had to do something to save face. Hence the NASCAR move.
It is a sad day for Formula One. I for one am sad to see such an outstanding talent sacrificed on the alter of petulance.
Gitau
10 July 2006
The mercurial nature of the man's temperament was what ultimately did for the Colombian driving genius. On a good day, nobody overtakes better than Juan Pablo Montoya. He launches his car into corners with a fearlessness bordering on lunacy. But the operative words here are "a good day". For Montoya has lots of very bad days. It all depends on how he is feeling. If he had learned to restrain himself, to think rationally through a situation rather than react in a red mist of fury at every provocation, Juan Pablo Montoya would be a world champion. He did not and he is not.
I will never forget the manner in which Montoya chose to leave BMW-Williams. In a genuine cock-up, BMW-Williams made a mess of a pit-stop strategy during the 2003 French Grand Prix and ruined Montoya's race for him. Bizarrely, Montoya concluded that the team had deliberately messed his race up so as to favour his team-mate, Ralf Schumacher, who went on to win the race. He lost his temper and swore at his bosses. In a fit of pique he immediately signed with McLaren when there were eighteen months left to run on his BMW-Williams contract. This more than anything else was the defining moment of his Formula One career. This is the point at which he ballsed it up.
"Juan is a passionate character and sometimes this means he makes impulsive decisions which lead him to impulsive conclusions," said Patrick Head, the Williams technical director, after the French grand prix row. "Once he had made his decision [to leave] that was that." He added: "In France [in 2003] he went into a sulk and we couldn't have a situation where he accused the team of being incompetent. I felt this was not something we could say nothing about."
The move to McLaren was disastrous. I remember Chipo wondering why he had done it. He did not fit the McLaren mould. Montoya was too much of an individual. The move I would have liked to see him make was to Ferrari as the replacement of Rubens Barrichello. I don't think he ever even contemplated this. For Montoya it was unthinkable that he could join a team where he was required to be number two. Ironically, that is precisely what Ron Dennis made him at McLaren.
Timing in F1 is everything. Your moment has to be chosen very carefully or you are sunk. By the middle of last year Montoya should have seen the writing on the wall and started looking for another drive. Opting to spend another season at McLaren was the death of him. In this transitional year there are no drives left. Juan Pablo Montoya realised that the end had come. Nobody wanted him to drive for them in 2007. He had to do something to save face. Hence the NASCAR move.
It is a sad day for Formula One. I for one am sad to see such an outstanding talent sacrificed on the alter of petulance.
Gitau
10 July 2006
posted by Gitau at 12:23 pm
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