Montoya in: Button out?

[Gerard]

Did Juan Pablo Montoya strengthen his worth by winning the Indianapolis 500?

Montoya is said to be a favourite to replace Jenson Button at Williams for the 2001 season.

Will his rookie victory in the Indy 500, the first rookie win since 1966 (Graham Hill) affect the chances of Jenson Button at Williams?

Can Frank Williams ignore Montoya after this.
Does Jenson Button have to look out for another seat in Formula One?

How important is Montoya's Indy 500 win to be sure of a Formula One drive next year?

[Liz]

Who was the last CART pilote to win Indy and go right to F1?

Jacques Villeneuve, I believe.

JPM gets good publicity by winning a race on the first go; Button gets bad publicity by getting speeding tickets.

Button "has to learn the tracks". JPM goes onto the track, goes around twice, and wins on the tracks.

Paging Button Spice, turn in your keys. Your time is up ....

[Ed-f1]

I think that's a bit unfair. I think one of the most impressive features of Button's driving is how quickly he learns the tracks. It has been a feature of his since his formula ford days. Yeah, San Marino was an exception. Hopefully there won't be any more like that tis season. Monaco should be very interesting being a 'drivers' circuit (but then again Villeneuve's first Monaco wasn't that great was it?) Montoya sounds like he's going to be a huge star of the future so Button is really up against it having to compete with him for his seat. A move to another team might not be such a bad thing for Button though because if he stays at Williams he is unlikely to get equal status with Ralf Schumacher.

[KC]

It is definitely a quandary for Frank Williams. Should he replace the marketting power and relatively inexperienced speed of Button with the obvious talent that Montoya possesses? It looked like a no brainer with Zanardi and both the driver and the team failed to deliver as promised. Will Montoya face the same predicament at Williams? Will he receive the same lack of commitment that Zanardi got or will he be able to impress with the equipment that is not the same as Schumacher's? Will there be an impasse with Berger/BMW and Sir Frank over the direction to take? Williams is said to be favoring Montoya and Berger/BMW are said to favor Button.

[RIKB]

Montoya winning Indy will most certainly have upped his worth, but that won't really change things. Ok so it might make Williams more determined to secure his services for next year, but it will also make Ganassi more determined to keep him, and at the end of the day their contract runs for another year.

Comparing Button to Montoya is a little like comparing Button to Schumacher (M) in a couple of years it might be fair but not now. Button has far exceeded all realistic expectations which in itself is something special.

On learning circuits, Montoya wont have to, he was 1998 FIA F3000 champion remember, which races on most of the same circuits F1 does. As for the cars, He was testing the narrow track F1's on grooved tyres so he knows what to expect.

Just to throw a final spanner into the works, rumour has it that Toyota are making eyes at JPM. they supply his engines in Cart ann it is said they would like him to lead them into F1.

The story goes on as they say,.

[Tristan]

Points taken. However, let's just say, hypothetically, that Button is ditched in favour of JPM; where to now?

[EERO]

Back to karts?

Actually, the lttle fella has put in a decent performance this season so far. I think he deserves to stick around. (Do I smell Shaguar? Its the playboy drivers line up for 2001.)
However, Montoya is a real force with whom the F1 gods must reckon- the guy is simply brilliant and is one of the few arrogant schmucks who can pull off the attitude.
I say he'll be at Williams next year giving Ralfie fits. Button Spice will be posing for photo layouts with Eddie.

[Liz]

Eero, I think you've got it. "Shaguar" - I LOVE IT! Can you see the two of them out there "Tell me what you want, what you really really ... "

On second thought, when is Button Spice's birthday? Don't want Our Eddie done for "Contribution to the Delinquency of A Minor" now, do we?

[Dino IV]

Shaguar is desperately after a top gun. They missed out of any of them last year and their odds for next year are a bit more promising. You never know who's gonna be out of a ride for sure but DC's McLaren time is almost certainly over. Guess he'll have the edge easily when it's time for Ford-management to choose between him or Button.

As we don't know what Frank, Patrick and Gerhard know about the car's performance, we can hardly tell how impressed they really are. When the Williams is damn fast, uterely reliable, rock stable and superbly driveable they can't be very amazed by any performance slower than Ralfie's. It's nice to learn, but if he has any superdriver potential, he has to show equal performance somewhere with his teammate and better performance after that. The sooner the better of course.

If that's not to happen, all Frank, Patrick and Gerhard know for sure is that he's always between half and a full sec slower than the driver they already had and probably to stay that way. Of no use that is. Of no use to any team. Exit F1. Well I guess Arrows means about the same.

Ofcourse a totally surprising Ralfie-crushing by the youngster for the rest of the season would change the odds, but can't see that happening, now can we?

[R]

The way I see it, Williams have a luxury problem. They have three excellent drivers to choose from, but out of those three, Montoya certainly must be regarded as the best. He has just won the greatest race in the world, and that on his first attempt. Chip Ganassi said that Montoya is the best driver in the world. But to prove that, he needs to get to F1, and he needs to beat TGF.

The way it looks now, I think Montoya will go to Williams and partner Ralf next year. But I definetly think there will be a seat in F1 for Button too. He has shown so much promise, he is bound to be picked up by someone, most probably BAR or Shaguar

If he goes to Shaguar, he'll beat the **** out of Irvine, I'll love to see that.

[R]

P.S. I was not censored! I printed the stars myself. One does have ones manners! (Sometimes ...)

[fatbloke]

I think JPM/RS at Williams and EI/JB at Jag would suit everyone. Jenson gets to leave the evil Frank/Patrick combo behind and get a decent boss, and they get someone else's career to play with. I would love to see Montoya come in and blow everyone away. (BTW, can someone explain the 'arrogant' comments about Pablo ? I can't see that at all - he's much more a star than Schumacher or even Hakkinen - did you actually see him when he won Indy ? The guy was totally delighted!)

[Liz]

Juan Pablo's father Pablo says that his son is shy and that comes across to some people as arrogance. And of course he can't help sending up some of the reporters, which sometimes comes across as arrogance ... and there was the time he and Baby Mikey had a little wheel-banger and Mikey threw his usual tantrum and Juan Pablo laughed at him. He was forced to apologize to Mikey for that, but I believe he was just laughing off the incident and not being ****ant about it.

He's a real racer and much more genuine than Button Spice, and I think he will suit Sir Frank very well.

And Shaguar being a British marque also, it's just the place for Mr. up-and-coming if he really is as good as all that.

[RIKB]

Shy or not Montoya has just taken pole for Milwaukee. Whereas Jenson is 14th for Monaco, 5 places behind his team mate or 9 tenths of a second.

[Liz]

If only those blasted Toyota engines will hold up for a full race. They are sending his season right down the old porcelain facility so far. I think Indy proved that much anyway - it IS the engines.