Juan Pablo Montoya - "The Great Columbian Hype"

[Gt_R]

Quote shaggy:"No doubt that Schumi is the class of the field, but while Rubens continues to beat JPM in the races, you've got to think that the Ferrari is head and shoulders above Williams in the chassis/tyre department."

Ahh..something new (or is it?)

Firstly, i'd extent a warm welcome.

Nobody denies that over a race distance, Ferrari has a chassis/tyre advantage over Williams. And if neccessary, cheek-in-tongue, i might even add a driver-pairing/team advantage.

So, since it's unfair to compare him to drivers in a superior car (not that it stops us from comparing MS to Hill or JV in 96/97), why not take a look at him vs his team-mate. And on that, i guess much had been spoken by many parties. And the consensus from the more unbiased fans of either side is, the 2 performed rather on par results wise, and performance wise, JPM did very well, but he did not blow his teammate away.

Hence, i agree with you on the argument that we had YET to see the best of JPM (though i sometimes wonder why is that so since his fans claim he THE RACER, always give 100%). With a better car/equipment, he can produce better results (but who won't?). Would he be a strong contender for the WDC? I don't doubt...but he would need to lift his already high level of driving, to a different level. Hopefully, from the Ralf/Kimi storey, to the top storey of Schumacher.

[Damon]

The main problem that JPM has got is that the FW23 and 24 both suffered/suffer from understeer. JPM has openly admitted that he really dislikes this particular characteristic: "all you can do is turn in and wait for the grip". Because of this he tries to set an understeery car up to oversteer. This is what destroys the tyres. Now, if as rumoured, Williams produce a more oversteery car for next year, we will see the pace and consistency JPM is capable of in 2003.

[Mania]

No driver likes understeer, Damon. But they all have to deal with it - and try their best to work with the engineers and dial it out. Thought Id just point that out!

[Champ69]

Senna, M.Schumacer and all the great drivers drive around their cars problems. eg.. Senna in Brazil 1991- the gearbox had one gear (I forget which one) and he still won the race.

[Damon]

Your right Champ69 (and it was 6th gear). All I am saying is Ralf can deal better with understeer than oversteer and vice versa for JPM. There are drivers however who prefer a slightly understeery car to an oversteery one (Damon Hill was a good example). It suits drivers with a smoother style of driving, i.e. slow in, fast out. Montoya's style is more to throw the car in side ways in order to carry the straight line speed through the corner.

[Peter Mallett]

Originally posted by Damon
Montoya's style is more to throw the car in side ways in order to carry the straight line speed through the corner.

Er. How can one maintain straighline speed when travelling sideways?

[DSM]

I'd have thought that 'throwing the car in sideways' was a mistake, not a style?!

[Peter Mallett]

Actually in the old days of high grip and low downforce it was the only way to drive. But now travelling sideways reduces aerodynamic efficeincy and therefore slows you down. That's the theory anyway.

That being the case we'll have to change the complete design of the cars and change the regs so that we can see just how good JPM is. I wouldn't mind it but it is a bit extreme just for one driver who can't drive the current cars isn't it?

(Now all I have to do is watch that touch paper burn and wait for the bang)

[Peter Mallett]

Actually, being serious I wish they would bring back high grip low downforce cars. Not exactly leading edge technology but much more fun to watch.

[Damon]

It's how he drove in Cart where the cars are more prone to those characteristics. It's a far more skilled style of driving than brake, turn in, accelerate, if you can make it work, and JPM seems to be capable. By getting the car sideways (and by this I don't mean sideways as you would in a Kart, I mean subtly getting the rear end moving at the same time as the front) you can carry more speed into the corner and obtain a tighter exit allowing the driver to get the power on earlier. Thats the theory anyway.

Even M Schu uses this style (i.e. carrying as much speed as possible into the corner, but it is often less pronounced than when JPM does it as the Ferrari has a far better balance than the Williams.

[Peter Mallett]

Prost was the best exponent but it depends on the driver. It's basically trail braking like you do in a FWD car. The ideal set up is one that moves the front and back wheels in tune (as you say) but it doesn't need an oversteery set up to do it. The idea is to be on the power just ahead of the apex so you drive across it under power.

The downside is that you need a bit more room to do it.

[Gt_R]

Damon...i should add that the "style" u mentioned is used to greater effects ("make it work" better in your-speak) by Michael, and rumoured, by Kimi too.

And i agree it is a greater skill. A driver who can use this style to effect will be quicker than the normal drivers of the tend-to-understeer type, ie Coulthard. The latter style is believed to be preferred by most normal drivers cos it is easier to drive over a race-distance and it allows more room for error.

[Mr V]

Originally posted by Gt_R
Damon...i should add that the "style" u mentioned is used to greater effects ("make it work" better in your-speak) by Michael, and rumoured, by Kimi too.

But both Michael and Kimi have better balanced cars, thats why it's used to greater effects.