What a triello in 2003
A three-way race until the end of the championship: 2003 was a very hard-fought season in F1, with Michael Schumacher defending the title at the wheel of Ferrari from the attacks of two fierce contenders to say the least, Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikkonen. The bearers of Williams and McLaren respectively were very close to interrupting a cycle that ended in 2005 when Fernando Alonso became champion at the wheel of Renault.
Podcast guest Beyond the Grid Juan Pablo Montoya he recalled the early 2000s which saw him debut in F1 with Williams starting in 2001 after winning the international F3000 in 1998 and the Formula CART in 1999, picking up the baton left by Alex Zanardi in the Ganassi team. “Beating Ferrari in those years was like beating Red Bull today, it was almost impossible – Montoya declared – in 2003 the BMW engine that powered our Williams was the best engine, realistically you could beat them when Michelin brought better tyres, but when the performance of the tires equaled Ferrari overall they had a better car than ours. However, 2003 was a truly significant season for the level of evolution that we managed to achieve during the season. At the beginning the FW25 wasn't as good as it should have been, but the amount of developments we managed to introduce during the championship was incredible.”
Franz Tost also regretted the title – Constructors – lost in 2003 when the BMW engine was the best of the lot. Already in 2004, however, the baton of best engine engineer passed into the hands of the company that is still winning in F1 under the hood of the Red Bulls built in Milton Keynes: “In 2004 we were there, but I think Honda was a little better“explained Juancho.
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