WTF?!?! Montoya heads to....

[Jon325i]

From open wheel to ovals: http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/formulaone/28230/

Jon

[delatlanta1281]

Nice! I hope he starts talking to Tony Stewart and Stewart realizes it's time to start dominating F1

[hugh jass]

is it april 1st already?

[madjurgen]

Nice! I hope he starts talking to Tony Stewart and Stewart realizes it's time to start dominating F1

I hope youre fucking kidding.

[delatlanta1281]

I hope you're fucking kidding about me kidding!

[Jon325i]

Nice! I hope he starts talking to Tony Stewart and Stewart realizes it's time to start dominating F1

That will never, ever happen. Stewart is way too much of a 'rebel' driver for the ranks of F1. He would probably get laughed out of the interview room of any Formula One team. This 'rebel' element is something that JPM possess as well. Montoya has a record of bumping tires (and aero bits) with his fellow F1 drivers and his off track attitude hasn't won him a ton of friends in Europe either. I think this a contributing factor why he got shown the door at McLaren.

When Alonso made the announcement that he was joining McLaren in 2007 Ron Dennis was faced with the decision of dropping one of his current drivers - and I think its a no-brainer that he let go of JPM. Kimi is an awesome talent despite his lack luster season. Give this guy a quick and reliable car and he can cream the competition. I believe that Montoya is a very good driver but his style doesn't seem to fit the mold of the F1 aluminati.

Some are speculating that he only did this for the money.....which may be true to a degree (after all, his boy Sebastian needs clean diapers!). Anyone who was tuned in to the Canadian GP may have heard a comment made that JPM was willing to drive for McLaren in 2007 for free - this lead me to believe that he sensed some pressure was on him to be let go and he was looking for a way to secure a ride for next season. And in today's news conference on Speed where the announcement was made, JPM stated that there were no promising rides available for the 2007 F1 season. This leads me to think that Renault have their eye on someone to take Alonso's seat and Massa's one year contract with Ferrari may be getting renewed for 2007. There was a seat or two available with the back marker teams but those didn't seem to interest Montoya.

Jon

[1991 318is]

Ovals and F1.

It seems the bigger barrier to crossover success is the type of car, not the type of track. Montoya is fast at Indy as are a lot of other formula car drivers. They just can't seem to go fast in full bodied sedans. Nascar drivers are also fast at Sears Point and blow the doors off of the road racing hot shoe ringers some teams bring in. So much of the strategy in Nascar is drafting, getting the other guy aero loose, etc. not to mention just plain old contact on the short courses. In formula cars you have ground effects and contact is disastrous. There are really steep learning curves in both types of cars and the best have spent years mastering them. Very few drivers have ever made the transition and went to the top.

[delatlanta1281]

Stewart is way too much of a 'rebel' driver for the ranks of F1.

Try not to confuse passion with rebellion, those are very different definitions. Check Tony's race history in not only NASCAR but every other circut he has driven in. Rolex for example. Acouple years back I seem to remember the only thing that stopped him from winning with a 13 minute lead on two flat tires in the rain was a rear diff blowing. It is hard to believe an amercan would be able to enter the ranks of F1 and succeed, I agree, but in my opinion, passion and skill are two qualities an F1 driver must posess, and Stewart has both and a winning career, one of the most successful and inspiring across different classes of racing to date. Ask Boris Said, he agrees. The only thing that may be a problem in my eyes would be his weight, which has been growing like his successes! I'm not going to argue NASCAR vs F1, I know where many of you stand, but you can't say for one second that Stewart lacks the skill of a great driver.

[uofom3]

stewart is my favorite driver for sure. I'm not a big JPM fan and was glad when he left BMW. JPM will get eaten alive by the nascar drivers and fans. He's too euro, too hard headed, and just not the kind of material for nascar IMO. Boris Said does well in nascar 1)because he is a great driver and 2)he understands how it works OFF the track as well. Plus, Boris comes off as an all around good guy who drives hard, gives props to people who earn it, and enjoys what he is doing. I just don't get that impression from JPM.

Maybe i'm down on the f1 driver because i'm down on f1 - at least nascar has passing. F1 qualifying is more fun to watch than the races, sadly.

[delatlanta1281]

Yeah i think they both have their drawbacks and thier pluses (lets see how long before someone pulls the redneck card!) I would love to see Tony ride for BMW, I am sure he would as well. Bmw gave him an 8 series @ 7 years ago to tool around in. He had to get rid of it @ 5 years ago due to the fact it was taking up too much room.... he actually had the first double duty indy car in his garage at the time! Amongst other cars (shelby series 1), a jeep wrangler, and some bikes.... jet skis, quads, and his tahoe. He loves Bimmers though! When you actually see him drive a street car you will understand pretty quickly. I had the honor of watching his skill firsthand and it is amazing the amount of control he has got.

[madjurgen]

next year should be better


i hope

[delatlanta1281]

I like F1 no matter what, just politics man politics.