Monty no good any more?

[RH1300S]

What's going on with Monty?

He should be one of the best drivers on the grid. On his day I would argue that he is probably the fastest man out there. He is a great wheel to wheel racer.

BUT...........would you give him a job right now?

[Tom]

In all honesty, no.

He doesn't have the right attitude, you see it in interviews, he always expects people to leave him space and the car to be perfect and it never happens so he either fizzes off into the background or works himself up into a mistake. When he first arrived he thought he was the fastest man on the track with an uncompetitive car so he kept pushing the poor Williams, with some success, then he got his break and jumped into the Mecy expecting to be competitive. The car is no where near the best on the grid this year and with Kimi's good results coming through he is loosing confidence with himself and getting annoyed. The only thing thats going to cure him is to do well again so its a visciouse cycle. IMO.

[i70q7m7ghw]

He is an incredble talent and deffinately one of the best drivers on the grid, on his day I do believe he is the best out there. He was not in the wrong this weekend with Rosberg, it was definately Rosberg who got caught out not looking in his mirrors (again). The problem is Monty probably should have expected that from a rookie. I really hope he does get a decent drive next season, it would be a shame to see him leave McLaren really.

[jgredline]

As I said in another post, it pains me not see Monty running the way he should be. Kimi, Fernando and shuey are in a leage of thier own right now.
I look forward to next year. Fisi whom I regard as not very good at all, ran very well this weekend mostly I feel in part because he is wanted at Renault.
Confidence by your team will give you that edge. In JPMS case, since he will not be back, he does not have the backing of the team and so he does not give his all.

[j4kwan]

the guys latin...he drives with his heart
things go well, he builds momentum and is one of the best drivers wheel to wheel...the guys on FIRE!!!

things get too cold and technical (sorry McLaren is the wrong team for you) the guy's got no drive.

[NickT]

As I said in the other thread:

Monsta Montoya looks like a man fighting for his survival and making a lot of mistakes when he really needs to be shining to attract a new seat. He seams down cast and lack luster at the moment and it shows in his driving.

[johny]

you should be agressive but if you're a mid-grid driver it won't help you much, i think monty's career is getting worse each year and dunno where he'll be next year

[Mikey_s]

Al of the drivers on the grid are amongst the best in the world. But I think there is a huge difference between being a good driver and a good racer.

I'm not a big fan of Montoya - he makes mistakes under pressure and sometimes does not think through the consequences of his actions. Last year I believe his job was to bring his car home as high as possible, but he was never fighting for the WDC - so he should have been trying to maximise points for the team. Instead he was shunted by backmarkers, gifting points to Fisi and Alonso by spinning off at critical moments and tangling with backmarkers (who should have moved offline, but didn't) leading to unnecessary incidents all of which lost points for the team.

In Montreal I think Rosberg retained a position by cutting the chicane and therefore would have been given a penalty, or at least told to move over and let Monty through, instead of which Monty (who was clearly faster) tried to take him and tangled (again!!) taking himself out of contention and costing McLaren more points.

He's clearly a good, fast driver, but in my mind he is not a racer.

Apologies to all the montoya fans, but he is not my favourite.

[RH1300S]

Interesting definition of a racer Mikey............I can't argue with it in the sense that a good racer is aggressive, but gets his car to the flag (FA - Kimi - MS ).

I still call Monty a racer in that he has a fire burning in him, he's up for a fight. Guys like Ralph Schumacher don't deserve the tag "racer".

I would like to think that Monty in a Red Bull type environment would be a good thing - I can't see that happening 'though. Red Bull seem committed to DC (and he's not keen on Monty) and they have a pipeline of hot shoes on the way through. Where else? What about a Williams drive again? Maybe Webber may shuffle off the Renault if Kimi doesn't go there.

In Autosport (or was it F1?) there was a good article setting out the case for Monty's defence. Ok, it could sound like 1001 excuses.........but give him the benefit of doubt. The Mclaren is still not working the way he needs it, while Kimi can deal with understeer Monty is affected more by it. There have been times when the car was working for him and he has outpaced Kimi last year etc. etc. All good stuff and it painted a good picture to explain his apparent lack of pace..........

On the other hand he still seems to head into scrapes feet first and in all of this Kimi is still out driving him. Bottom line..........

[Mikey_s]

RH1300S,

I agree with you that Monty is aggressive, but likewise that agression without finishing the race is not useful. The important point is to choose your battles...

Take Alonso at Monaco - when Schumacher unlapped himself Alonso more or less jumped out of his way... why? Because had he decided to try and keep Schum behind there just might have been a "racing incident" which took him out of the race... (would have been a good result for the Ferrari, keeping the gap the same rather than going further behind) Alonso realised that he was not racing Schum, so got the hell out of the way.

I really don't know enough about monty to know whether he would figure well in a development role... such as might be needed in RBR - he's definitely fast, but can he give the feedback to the engineers to help them develop the car??? I just have no idea.

Agree with you 100% about Ralf, (you could also include Coulthard, Button, Ruby and a bunch of others) fast drivers, but not racers (IMO).

[Tom]

I don't know about DC. Hes still got a lot of race in him. Take his move on Button with 3 laps to go in Montreal after starting 22nd, and his podium at monaco. I'll admit hes made some unracy moves (Melbourne '98 comes to mind) but he still wants to win as much as ever and seems really motivated reacently. Watch out for him at Mangy Cours particularely.

[Mikey_s]

Tom,

I will concede that DC has got much better since he left McLaren - it's a pity he didn't seem to have it when he had the package to do it with!

[jgredline]

Tom,

I will concede that DC has got much better since he left McLaren - it's a pity he didn't seem to have it when he had the package to do it with!

I have never been a fan of DC, buts it great to see him running great.
I attribute it to having EQUAL equipment and a team that believs in him

[DaveKillens]

It's a shame, I'm a big fan of Montoya, he''s definitely one of the most exciting drivers out there. But his mental arrogance is really beginning to be his achilles heel. All too many times he expects backmarkers or rookies to see him and get out of his way. But sadly, the outcome is that a collision occurs. There are very few "great racers", drivers with the passion and skill and determination to not only fight for every inch, but to be able to stay out of the way of trouble. It's a very fine line between fighting to good fight and messing with trouble. But the greats not only battle hard, they manage to bring the car home unscathed.
Sadly, Montoya has great driving skills, but not the attitude or brains to know when to give way, and fight the battle another day.

[NickT]

[quote="jgredline]I have never been a fan of DC, buts it great to see him running great. I attribute it to having EQUAL equipment and a team that believs in him[/quote]

Have to agree with you there. Ron Denis has always had favourates in his team in recent years Mika and now Kimi. That must be quite demoralising for the team's other drivers. Remember how DC said that he felt he'd sold out as a racer to McLaren. Maybe thats just how Monty feels now, but it also explains a lot about DC's current motivation and hunger I suspect he cannot wait until next year when he has a Newie penned Red Bull under him