by VALERIO BARRETTA
Montoya-Schumacher, the rivalry that ignited the early 2000s
The 2001 Australian Grand Prix brought fresh air to Formula 1. It was in Melbourne, in fact, that three drivers made their debut who would write important, sometimes historic, pages in motorsport: Fernando AlonsoKimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya. At the beginning the greatest expectations were precisely on the Colombian, designated as new anti–Schumacher in place of a now fading Mika Häkkinen. The relationship between Montoya and Williams BMW struggled to take off in the first months and the Colombian had to wait until the end of 2001 to get some satisfaction, and then contradict Kaiser Schumi in 2003.
Montoya's words
Montoya, in the last episode of Beyond The Gridhe returned to talk about the relationship with the German: “Everyone had so much respect for Michael. When others saw him in the mirrors, they got out of the way, he had beaten them before he even put on his helmet“.
“The only time I spoke to Michael, I was racing for BMW and he was still a Ferrari. Norbert Haug invited us to a party at the Nurburgring after the race. And I said yes, because we had put her up for the night. I went because Norbert had invited me. Michael and Rubens were there too, we all three got drunk and then that was it“.
“My approach to racing was to be such an asshole that it worked. Because when I entered the corner, they knew I wasn't going to move and so they had two options. Either they gave me space or we crashed“.
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