Montoya to McLaren in 2005

jonno

Just read it here . A great signing for McLaren

Töpher

w00t! gg JPM! LOL!

BANZAI_RUNNER

good riddance, maybe now williams can move forward.

zeris

It was the worlds worst kept secret! There where even efforts apparently to get him in a McLaren for next season (2004). Still though, it will be interesting to see how if affects JP's chances of winning the championship next year. Unlike designers and engineers, the drivers cannot take 6 months gardening leave. How much testing and even access to data and the factory will he get for the last half of the season?

BANZAI_RUNNER

i figure Montoya will be replaced by Gene in the latter part of the season, or as soon as Patrick Head /Frank Williams realise it would be better for the team. :ninja:

zeris

Don't think too many of their sponsors would be happy with that. HP would like to run their ads with JP some more. Gene may be Spanish, but Petrobras would still prefer a South American. Especially if JP is running as a championship contender. Even if it just to win the constructors. And I don't think Gene will be in the running for the 2005 seat.

BANZAI_RUNNER

i never said that Gene would have the 2005 seat ,i was referring to the potential problem of having "Monty" in a position whereby he has access to the 05 car design etc , as someone said earlier it is impossible to send a driver on 6 months gardening leave , so i figure he will be replaced , and we all know he has a tendency to shoot off at the mouth when things dont go right for him on track , so any bad criticism of the team ect would be a very handy excuse to release JPM from his seat, i suppose all anyone can do is wait and see ..................

zeris

The other thing is that Williams have had a lot of experience in having their drivers leave after having the full support of the team and winning the drivers championship.

Dr. Dre

It's interesting, two "title contenders" (well according to the media anyway) in the one team, could lead to a lot of tension between them, each of them looking to be the golden boy. At least with Coulthard around Kimi didn't have to worry about that

[DF]Lenny

I think JPM will find life easier with Ron Dennis .FW has always had a low opinion of drivers with big ego's.

AngelofFire

I think its an excellent decision. Mcclaren with a Raikkonen/montoya pairing will be the most exciting team on the grid. Mclaren will suit montoya better as they have more regard for their drivers than williams do.

Kalina

This is an excellent move for JPM- he and Kimi have loads of potential as team-mates and should be well able to beat Ferrari in '05.

projectmayhem

i heard that and thought "hmm"... is that a move foward for montoya?

it'll be interesting to see what happens in 2004 with JP...

woosaysdan

he was fast enough in a williams cant wait to see him in a mc claren!!!