Feature: Relaxed Montoya Returns to the Ring

Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya was far from calm in Canada ten days ago when he saw his hopes of winning go up in smoke for the second successive race.

After starting on pole in Monaco and Montreal, it took the Williams driver some days to get over the gut-wrenching disappointment of yet another engine failure snatching a possible win from his grasp.

Yet 'calm', a word that may sound strange in the fast-living world of Formula One, still reflects Montoya's state of mind as he prepares for his return to the Nurburgring for Sunday's European Grand Prix.

"I am more comfortable. I feel a lot happier," Montoya told reporters before the blow in Canada as he reflected on his second year in the sport. "First of all I am more part of the team. I think the team believes in me quite a lot and that's one of the keys.

"I'm very comfortable driving the car. It is very predictable, I can really tell what it is going to do and it makes my life a lot easier."

Sharing second place with teammate Ralf Schumacher, a massive 43 points behind Ferrari's World Champion Michael at the midpoint to the season, he is as aggressive, spirited and determined as ever. But he is also much more consistent and concentrated.

Turning Point

The Nurburgring was the circuit that marked a turning point for the Colombian's fortunes in 2001. Last June, Montoya arrived in Germany with some uncompromising words from his team still fresh in his mind.

He had won plaudits for passing Michael Schumacher in Brazil but brickbats for crashing in two successive races and clashing off the track with Canadian Jacques Villeneuve. He had finished only one race in seven.

The tension evaporated at the Nurburgring, where he finished second to Schumacher's Ferrari and claimed a lap record in the process. By September, he was a winner at the Italian Grand Prix.

This season, until Monaco, Montoya and World Champion Schumacher were the only drivers to complete every lap and score points in every race. Williams technical director Patrick Head reflected approvingly in Canada on his driver's increasing maturity.

"I think he's a much wiser and steadier head. He's got much better judgement about how to pace himself now. It's just experience," he said.

"Juan is a pretty strong-minded character but I think there was a lot of expectation on him and he put a lot on himself when he came in to Formula One. There was of course his overtaking Michael Schumacher in Brazil (last year) and all that sort of stuff and maybe he lost his way a little bit.

"His second lap accident at Monaco didn't show a great deal of wisdom, put it like that, and he had a similar accident (in Canada)," he added. "We didn't put any special pressure on him, we just said he's got to stay calm and he actually drove a very good race at Nurburgring."

While Montoya would not question the latter assertion, his own account of events differs slightly. According to the Colombian, the breakthrough came when he cleared the air after Montreal last year and convinced the team to listen to what he was saying.

"I think after Montreal last year I got really pissed off with the team and I told them that when the car was shit it was shit and when it was good it was good," he said in his no-nonsense fashion. "We started making some changes on the car and driving our own set-up and that made all the difference."

"Now if I tell them I've got understeer, they know I've got understeer and they'll do something to fix it. Last year it was 'No, no you need to do more laps to learn the circuit and more this and that.' Now everything is a different approach and it's working really well."

Rivalry

The inference was that, for the first half of 2001, Montoya was having to use Ralf's settings rather than his own but Head denied that was the case.

"I don't think we ever caused him to race a non-preferred set-up," he said. "I think Juan might be putting a slightly creative view on it."

Whatever happened, Montoya and Ralf now look increasingly well-matched after a season of having to answer endless questions about their perceived enmity. They may never be best of friends but they appear to rub along together with less obvious friction.

"I think Juan and myself get on better and better. We always got on better than the press said, actually, but we respect each other more and more and that's fine," Ralf said in Canada.

"We are always pretty similar in set-up as well, which makes a perfect team because whatever he wants or I want is always in the same direction."

Head said that, purely from reading the telemetry, there was little to separate one from the other.

"I wouldn't say that their styles are hugely different," he said. "You can look at it and say maybe Juan Pablo is a slightly more passionate driver than Ralf and Ralf is clinical. But as a racer I think there is a thin cigarette paper between the two of them."