Montoya slams managers !!!

[Speed]

[www.formula1.com]
Juan Pablo Montoya has angrily dismissed calls from management members of BMW Williams for him to improve as a driver, and to emulate Michael Schumacher more. Technical director Patrick Head and chief operating engineer Sam Michael believe the Colombian needs to make a quantum leap on the technical front.
“I’ll be honest with you,” Montoya said. “I don’t understand what all the – b******s – is about Michael. If we had the car he had, we could probably win the championship as well. I get bored hearing how Michael does things, how Michael wins and you don’t. I think Michael wins because he’s got the car to win and we don’t.”
BMW motorsport director Gerhard Berger believes that Montoya is one of the most talented drivers he has ever seen, but says he needs to get more out of the car.
“This is only my third season in Formula One,” Montoya conceded, “and you are always gonna learn more about getting the maximum out of the car, but that’s completely the opposite of what the others are saying, that I’m pushing too hard. I’m always pushing to go as fast as I can, every lap I’m in the car. If I don’t know how to maximise the car and I put it seven times on pole in 2002, that the car was 100 percent capable of, then I don’t what you call maximising the car anyway. I’m happy the way I’m driving.”

That's my boy !

[ASCII Man]

He's damn right too.

[NiceGuyEddie]

He is right, allthough I feel he does underestimate Michael's contribution to the level of where the Ferrari-cars are today.

[ASCII Man]

He hasn't even mentioned about what Michael contributed to the success of Ferrari. He's talking about the present, not the past.

[NiceGuyEddie]

“I’ll be honest with you,” Montoya said. “I don’t understand what all the – b******s – is about Michael. If we had the car he had, we could probably win the championship as well. I get bored hearing how Michael does things, how Michael wins and you don’t. I think Michael wins because he’s got the car to win and we don’t.”

He is suggesting that the only reason why Michael wins, is because he got the best car. Sure, but he fails to mention that Schumacher indeed has something to do with making that car the best car. Its certainly no matter of simple coincidence. So a little more credit was in place.

[ASCII Man]

He could -no- should also have asked Michael to marry him, and i don't think that Connie would like that much...

[neilap]

Williams is not structured in the same way Ferrari is. They also don't have Michelin in their back pockets. Make JPM the number one, give him the freedom that MS has been given. If he cant deliver after that, then tell him he needs to buck up. I am sure he is nowhere near perfect, but MS is not either. JPM does not have the power in the team to be as potent as MS.

As for his technical skills, maybe that is why he is not being given more power in the team. Maybe the reality is that he would get preferential treatment only if he would up that side of his abilities. Either way, until JPM gets to be the number one, he will not be a dominant force over his teammate nor the rest of the field.

[KC]

When one looks at the history of Williams GP, they have bene and will always be primarily an engineering firm. In comparison, Ferrari are much more driver oriented than Williams is. Frank Williams has always espoused that the car is more important than the driver.

MS is the sole focus of Ferrari. Everything on that team and their suppliers is bent on producing the best car for MS to win the title with. The car is tailored for MS to get the very most from it.

The car is the sole focus of Williams GP. Everything on that team and suppliers is bent on producing what they believe is the best car to chase a title with. However, if the driver is unable to make that car a contender then it is more a hindrance than help.

Williams has called out their drivers in the past so this is nothing new. If the car is not up to snuff, then it must fall on the driver to carry it beyond its capabilities. These days, with all the electronic aids, it is virtually impossible for the driver to take the car and force it forwards. The car is already running at the best it will do and no amount of practice, will, or sublime skill can force it to do more.

The days of Clark, G. Villeneuve, Senna and Fangio wringing unbelieveable performances from mediocre cars is long past.

[Logrence]

I don't think Marc Gene is the most talented guy to be telling them what direction to be taking the car in either...

[Sodemo]

I honestly don't understand how drivers "develop" F1 cars.
Surely all drivers are looking for the same thing, more power, more grip?

[Logrence]

Well if it's ****, you tell the engineers what you want changing.

[Lee Janotta]

Well, Monster, let's say you've got a perfectly neutral handling car, but it's a little slow. Juan goes to Patrick Head and says "I need some more front grip, I need to car to turn in better." So the team goes to the wind tunnel and comes out with a front wing with more downforce.

The next race, Ralf comes up to Patrick and says "I'm losing speed down the straight, and the rear end of the car's getting away from me under braking. I want a more efficient front wing." So they go and put the old front wing back on Ralf's car.

Meanwhile, the guys at the factory have some up with a more efficient rear wing that produces the same amount of downforce. But it was designed with the new front wing Juan requested in mind. When they put it on Ralf's car, it costs him downforce, and again his car's too loose for his tastes.

Beyond that, you've got both drivers yelling at Marc Gene that he's not getting the setups correct for their tastes in his testing. Cars are almost never fast right out of the box, they're too complex. A test driver has to figure out tire pressures, camber angles, spring rates...

Colin Chapman was rather unique in how he ran his team, developing cars which were as close to perfect as he could make them on paper... But they were all designed from a very purist engineering standpoint, and they usually took _very_ skilled drivers to get the most out of (Clark, Hill, Fittipaldi, Peterson, Andretti, Senna)

It's the traditional way of running a team, and it worked great... Until 1994, when Benneton decided to concentrate exclusively on what their young star Michael Schumacher wanted out of the car, at the expense of his teammates.

In 1999, though, the weakness of that system was revealed, when Schumacher's injury at Silverstone left Irvine to carry the torch for Ferrari. But the team couldn't bring themselves to admit that the man the whole team was built around was out of contention, and could not focus on Irvine to give him the car the team was capable of (they couldn't even keep the tires straight during his pit stops).

Oh well... Jellybabe probably has some insider info on what being a BAR test driver constitutes.

[Jay]

You know, I've never really liked Montoya, but he's bloody well right!

And if he still has the capabilities he did in Cart, he doesn't need any help getting the most out of a car.

[corkholio]

Originally posted by Lee Janotta
Oh well... Jellybabe probably has some insider info on what being a BAR test driver constitutes.

Skiing?

This is exactly why Williams can't win a championship like this. The World Championship doesn't give a sh!t whether Montoya is right or not, as too damn many egos in that team get in the way of a real championship challenge.

[Valve Bounce]

I think Williams will do a lot better by keeping the media (especially the tabloids) out of their serious discussions with their drivers. The media reports what they want in order to sell papers, and rumours will often suffice. Aparently, the Williams management have denied what the Formula 1 magazine has quoted them as saying, the stuff that upset both drivers.