Montoya's the man in the wet

[R]

Originally posted by mr v
Wasn't that Hockenheim?? overtaking 4 cars on the grass, and when people showed surprise at the manoeuvre, JPM just shrugged his shoulders and said something like "they were slower, so why not" as if this sort of thing happened in every race!

I didn't see that! Does anyone have a copy of that race on tape?

Originally posted by steve nielsen
and R : did you know that J(unkie) XL is from Amsterdam.

I knew that he was Dutch, but I didn't know that he was from Amsterdam.

[freud]

JPM drove like a demon at Silverstone. By far he was the driver of the race. I was amazed by his car control and precision. Watching him block Schu on the wet/dry track in a 2 seconds/ lap slower car reminded me of the 1993 British GP when Senna did exactly the same to Prost. Fantastic driving.. very gutsy.

Before Silverstone I had doubts over JPM's abilities in the wet. He still has a long way to go and if he fulfils the potential he has, he can win many World titles. For now I can safely say.... the next 'Phenomena' has arrived.

[Inigo Montoya]

You guys and your blind worship of JPM. Its hilarious. Driver of the race by far? LOL! Barelyfellow came from last place to second. And TGF was flawless. JPM was also fantastic, but not like you make him out to be...

[Speed]

Barrichello spun with no pressure !, definitely not the man of the race...

PS: When you have a 2 seconds faster car than the rest of the pack, it's easier to overtake 19 cars... (I mean 17 'cause Massa and McNish were out of the way early).

[Mr V]

Rubens was man of the race imo, but, the admiration for Juan's race is well deserved when you consider these points.

1.......He was on a one stopper to the Ferrari's two, so did admirably in holding up TGF for as long as he did!

2.......He was on Michelins that are c*** in the wet, and the Ferrari's were on the "outstanding" Bridgestone inters!

3.......He had some sort of engine/fuel glitch towards the end of the race (according to Peter Windsor of Sky Digi+)

4.......He's in a Williams, TGF and Rubens are in proberbly the best Formula 1 car ever built!

As i said, Rubens was the driver of the day, but Juan drove an outstanding race, and it's not just blind worship!

[freud]

Inigo, I am not a hardcore JPM fan. I have often criticized him for some of his antics & his statements. Before Silverstone I was not sure whether he is the best driver. Though one can argue since he is giving pole positions in a car that is slower than the Ferraris by a second & half in race conditions.

JPM is convincing me day by day that he is the best driver in formula one. His car control & reflexes are just exemplary. Combined with that he's completely balls-out. He's young, he's driving fast and he's giving it his all. Unlike Michael who's down the hill. Did you notice that Michael didnt have the balls to overtake Juan in the dry/wet-dry conditions? In wet when the car difference became huge, he did so easily, which was no big deal.

Michael is still the benchmark since he has all the records. Much like Prost in 1987. Though I believe once Williams gets its act together, Michael may be thoroughly beaten by JPM.

[Inigo Montoya]

Freud, I'm with you. I also was full of doubt at the beginning. I said very bad things on this forum about him when he first started - that columbian hothead, cart-guy, etc etc. He made me eat every single word (or, as the late great BBking would say, humble pie), and I now agree he is the best young driver out there.
I just think the hysteria around this guy is getting out of control in this forum. We have people here justifying his blocking of Heidfeld in qualifying "it happens" "its part of the game" etc... Hmm, I wonder if the reaction would be the same if it was Heidfeld (or worse, TGF) who did it to Montoya on his last flying lap? And now people are trying to tell me Montoya was the man of the day, when the Ferraris were 1-2, and there was a guy who went from last to second...

Your point about TGF not messing with JPM on the dry-dry. This is the reason why TGF is so damn good - he's smart. He knew that there was a good chance it was going to rain, so why bother tangling with him, when he knows the Michelin intermediates are a joke? Why risk losing the 6-10 points. He knew Juan sometimes aggressive when defending the position, so he just waited. Patience... makes the champion... Even Juan is now learning that you don't win races on the first corner.

Speed - Barelyfellow did spin out, but when you push like that, its bound to happen. Did you really think the Ferrari advantage was 2 sec. lap? Shouldn't TGF have finished quite a bit farther ahead?

Sorry, but my driver of the day is the (ever-unpopular) TGF... JPM will have lots of opportunities to be driver of the day, when he actually wins a race (this year). Any yes, I think he'll be the dominant force in F1 when TGF retires at the end of next season.

[Jordi]

Drivers of the day, the ones that made no mistakes (neither him nor his team), say TGF, Juan, Jacques, Heinz-Harald..

Rubens came from the back, but he's in a car one second faster than everyone, and he spun, like DC, like Massa, like Sato...

[freud]

Inigo, TGF (as usual) did a good job in the wet. Though he was far from being 'spectacular'. I think the few fast laps he gave when Rubens was following him and couldnt really match him, hence spinning, were great. TGF is a wonderful driver in wet and I wont take anything away from him. But just as DINO IV mentioned in a post in another thread with these lucid words :

"Given the fact that Montoya finished third behind the Ferrari's at reletively close distance, in a classification of only Bridgestone-teams and a few remaining struggling Michelin's, including his teammate who was easy prey for even Bridgestone-shod backmarkers, at the bottom of the list, for any observer he must have performed almost the impossible. Class act, Juan, an outstanding drive."

Ditto above.

[Inigo Montoya]

Ralf had other problems (i.e. his refuelling jig).

[freud]

Actually its not about the pitstop... Kimi's race was a disastor too, thanks to Mclarens strategy, , but he did show that he had talent in wet. Halfie was just awful during the race and never put a foot right. He lacks skill.

[mac]

You can't judge the drivers' performances when cars are on such different standard tyres.

[f1manoz]

Considering that Michelin had tyres that were completely outclassed, JPM did a marvellous job just to get the car into 3rd place. Once the rain came and intermediates were the ideal tyre, Schu and Barrichello were unbeatable, and it showed. There was NOTHING JPM could have done to stop them.

And when you compare his performance to his team-mate as well. Yes, Ralf did have his problems but frankly he was outclassed. Kimi made him look like a rookie with his overtaking moves. Brilliant!

[Red]

Mr V, chosing a 1 stopper race can hardly be taken in Pablo's favor. On that kind of weather, it was almost a certitude that he would make at least one unschedulled stop to take rain-tyres. Picking a 1 stop strategy was a poor decission in my opinion.

Freud, indeed, Schumacher is rarely spectacular but often wins races. Pablo is often spectacular but seldom finish races. In the last race he drove well. He even "saved engine" but brought the car home.

As for being the highest Michelin finisher well, that statement does not reflect the race. The other Michelin-shod cars were 1 Mac and 1 Williams that encountered various pitstop mishaps plus de la Rosa's Jaguar. All the other DNF'ed. Just a paranthesis, wasn't Michelin-shod Kimi closing on Montoya rather fast? In the wet? After a bad first pit-stop and before the second disastrous pit-stop? Overtaking 2 Renaults and a Williams in the process? The spectacular man in the wet was Kimi. Not Pablo.

Indeed, he beat Ralf (he got points while Ralf didn't) but he did not outclassed him, if we only consider that Ralf set a fastets lap faster by almost 1 second than Pablo's.

Ahem.... if 32 seconds is "relatively close distance" I wonder what a big advantage would be. 2 full laps? Also, 15 seconds behind the second Ferrari is interesting. That gap was achieved in 12 laps. And the track was dry by then and they ran on dry tyres.

[M Webber]

JPM BLA BLA BLA JPM BLA BLA BLA
SHUEY IS BEST IN THE WET .