Montoya to be Summoned by FIA Over Conduct

Formula One's governing body will summon Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya to a meeting in December to explain his conduct, motor sport sources said on Thursday.

Both Italy's Gazzetta dello Sport and France's L'Equipe newspapers reported that the Williams driver could have to face the International Automobile Federation (FIA) after failing to fulfil commitments to them.

While there was no official word, sources told Reuters that the FIA's World Motor Sport Council had agreed on Wednesday to ask Montoya, who joins McLaren at the end of the year, to attend their next meeting in Monaco.

The issue concerns a commitment Montoya gave to the FIA last year to attend the launch of a road safety campaign in Costa Rica.

The Colombian pulled out two days after the 2003 US Grand Prix at Indianapolis, the penultimate race of the season that dashed his title hopes after he was given a drive-through penalty for a collision with Ferrari's Brazilian Rubens Barrichello.

The sanction was widely held to be unfair, prompting a change in the rules this season, and Montoya said later that he had needed two days to calm down after storming out of the racetrack.

Sources said that although Montoya had apologised to the FIA and promised to attend a later event in Costa Rica, the Colombian had not yet done so.