Everything was rosy for Juan Pablo Montoya. He had started from fourth place and after two laps he was already leading the race. The Colombian was going to make history in his third race. Until a Dutchman ended the dream.
Just as Juan Pablo Montoya’s car flew off the track yesterday and evaporated from the statistics of the Brazilian Grand Prix in which he was writing a fantastic story, the emotion of an entire country that was witnessing something incredible deflated: the Colombian, in his third race in Formula 1, he was winning the race with a huge display of power and quality behind the wheel.
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An accident totally out of his control ended the demonstration between laps 38 and 39 of the competition, but what he managed to do is something that will make F1 of the 21st Century different after what was experienced yesterday.
Michael Schumacher’s empire received a tremendous premonition courtesy of Montoya, who managed in 40 minutes to question things that were believed to be irreversible truths. Like, for example, that Schumacher is impassable and unbeatable, that no one beat the 2001 Ferraris, that the BMW engine was fragile and that the Michelin tires were still very rough. Or that Montoya lacked a lot of learning…
What if he knew more?
At the start, Juan Pablo went from second to fourth place by taking advantage of the fact that his teammate Ralf Schumacher was stuck to the ground and that, next to him, Mika Hakkinen’s McLaren had the engine off, leaving the perfect gap for Montoya’s movement, who did not hesitate to charge for the neighbors’ mistakes.
But if that outgoing already had the country on fire, there was much more to see. And soon. To evacuate Hakkinen’s car they had to call the ‘pace car’ and for the third time in as many races, Barrichello rammed Ralf Schumacher’s Williams from behind, who surprisingly changed lanes in front of the Brazilian. Rubinho’s Ferrari ran out of noses and mutilated the Williams’ rear wing. At that time, no one could imagine that we would experience that same film later, but against Montoya.
(We recommend: Juan Pablo and Sebastián Montoya competed together for the first time! Interview).
Exactly 20 years ago, JP Montoya (Williams), dava show no GP do Brasil. He had a nice ultrapassage on top of M. Schumacher (Ferrari), on volta 3. On volta 39, he ended up being “run over” by J. Verstappen (Arrows), a latecomer, who ended up with the chances of his first victory. pic.twitter.com/U9Brq8vq3Z
– Felipe Meira (@Felipemmeira) April 1, 2021
When the cars lined up the straight to start the second lap, the green flag was up. Michael Schumacher went first, but Montoya’s Williams, an expert in these usual and frequent starts in all Cart races, was packed and long before turn one, the Colombian had already placed himself on the rope.
Schumacher, somewhat naive when opening the door knowing as he said later that the Williams had better speed on the straight, tried to hold on while Juan Pablo with great cold blood and security stretched his trajectory until the track ran out for the German.
This tried to dissuade Juan Pablo from the maneuver and put his front wheel against the side of the Williams. Neither the car nor Juan Pablo moved from their line and a few meters later the great set of the year in F1 was played: Montoya, first; Schumacher, second. Amazing!
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We all thought that Michael was going to come back and that the pressure on Montoya would be unbearable. But it turned out the other way around. Flattened by such a pass at the hands of a rookie, Schumacher could never keep up with Montoya, who was distancing him by minimal differences, until Ferrari’s tactic of making two stops to change tires was the final blow to break the undefeated World Champion.
Coulthard, third and up to that point an astute observer of the incredible duel between the rookie and the world champion, took over from the chase, but without being able to discount the distance. On the contrary, the light increased.
The clouds began to darken the atmosphere and the drizzle appeared to add drama to the great act that Montoya had put on before the world’s disbelief. But his management was so firm and the accounts so favorable, since he was going to make only one pit stop, that they already began to get the 50-year-old statistics to see if he was going to become the fastest winner in F1, since he was barely in his third competition.
Turn 38 arrived. Montoya passed through the colero traffic. Blue flags were waved to warn Verstappen of the lead’s arrival and he left his orange Arrows in the inside lane of the corner entrance. Montoya took the free space and began his braking, suddenly a little harder than usual in anticipation that they would make the turn paired with Verstappen.
The Dutchman saw the Williams go by and immediately returned to the racing line, glued to Montoya. He miscalculated under braking and rammed the Williams in a spectacular and dangerous manner. Unintentional perhaps, but with devastating results.
The race that followed was something else.
(In other news: James confirms the team he could go to, and Madrid did not let him)
There because it rained, because Schumacher, the champion, spun and made a mistake in the type of wet tires, because David Coulthard won and resurrected McLaren and because all the world press ended up on top of the Colombian, the new hero of Formula 1 .
Here, because frustration, joy, anger and illusion were mixed in a single feeling. For Colombia and for many in the world, on lap 38 the race ended, physically and emotionally.
Joseph Clopatofsky
Director of ENGINE
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