Grapevine: Australian Humour Upsets Montoya

Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya stalked out of a pre-Australian Grand Prix news conference on Wednesday after it was hijacked by a satirical television sports show.

The fiery Formula One driver, a title favourite for BMW-powered Williams in the Championship starting on Sunday, was not amused by the intervention by 'reporters' from the Channel Seven programme.

Bemused by one tongue-twisting question and another nonsensical one, the Williams driver sat open-mouthed as the same interrogator then stood up to answer a mobile phone call in a stage whisper.

When a second then stood up to answer his telephone in identical fashion after the first had left the room, the Williams driver's patience ran out.

"Either he stops or I walk off," Montoya warned.

The threat became real when the 'reporter' continued talking, asking the driver as a parting shot whether he might be free to play a round of golf with his mother.

Montoya, winner of two races last year, refused to be cajoled back into the room at Sandown International Raceway in southern Melbourne and drove off with his entourage after a brief altercation.

The Colombian, who joins Williams' rivals McLaren at the end of the season, was to have been the star guest at a day organised by team sponsor Allianz.

His schedule included driving a celebrity around the track after spending the afternoon with important clients of the insurance company. But that did not happen.

"I guess Juan didn't appreciate the Australian sense of humour," said Allianz Australia chief general manager Greg Fisher. "We had a lot of important corporate clients and basically it has ruined the day for them.

"It's part of reality TV I guess these days but Juan didn't appreciate the sense of humour and understandably rather than making any embarrassing comment he decided to end the press conference."