Interview: Newcomer Montoya Knows the Game

When it comes to Formula One, Colombian newcomer Juan Pablo Montoya knows the game. The computer game, that is.

The Williams driver is unfamiliar with six of the 17 tracks this season. So, like any other armchair racer, he has been honing his skills in his free time at home.

"I am a bit of a computer freak," Montoya told reporters at a breakfast meeting at the weekend. "I love computer games."

Like some other drivers, such as Canadian Jacques Villeneuve who has used Grand Prix games to learn the details of unfamiliar tracks, Montoya is quick with the console.

"It actually gives you an idea that you've got to turn left, turn right, whether its a slow corner or a fast corner," he said. "You get an idea of where you have to go.

"In the computer games, I'm pretty good. If I can drive a race car like I drive the computer, I'll do OK."

Montoya, a former F3000 champion and winner of the 1999 CART title in the United States, arrives in Formula One with a reputation as a straight-talking hotshot.

He has Latin looks, money and bags of confidence. Already, whispers are going round that he could be the man to rattle the cages of Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen.

"Montoya will be a breath of fresh air in F1," said his manager David Sears last week. "He takes no prisoners and will cut through a lot of the bull.

"There's going to be a lot of fireworks."

But Eddie Irvine can rest assured that his unofficial and uncontested title of playboy of the pitlane is safe.

"I'm not a guy to go out and party," said Montoya, whose law student girlfriend lives with her parents in Madrid. "I like a lot better to go to a nice restaurant and stuff like that."

Montoya replaced popular Jenson Button, whose remarkable debut season saw him farmed out on loan to Benetton for two years, and he praised the 21-year-old Briton's talent.

He was also pleasantly surprised by the BMW-powered car and how stable it seemed.

"It's a predictable car," he said. "Three days ago I had my first go with the new engine and it's definitely an improvement. There is more driveability, more power, more top end."

Italian Alex Zanardi, also with Williams in 1999, was the last driver to switch from CART to Formula One. Like Montoya, he too was a CART champion but he never adjusted to Grand Prix cars which had changed radically since he last raced them.

However Montoya, who grew up idolizing the late Brazilian champion Ayrton Senna and began kart racing at the age of five, said his years in America had improved his driving.

"The two years in Champ Cars made me a wiser driver. You learn on the ovals that if the car is not right you are never going to be fast. So you learn to make the car fast first and then go with it."

Montoya said his relationship with Ralf Schumacher, brother of world champion Michael, was also working out despite the German's reported remarks last year that he would have been happier had Button remained at the team.

"If he wants to have a good relationship, we will. If he doesn't, we won't," said the Colombian, whose times in testing have been immediately on the pace. "At the moment I think we have a good relationship. He's doing his job and I'm doing mine.

"You don't have to be a boyfriend, you know.

"Being a good teammate means that you don't need to hide things from him. All the information, all the data, is there and if he wants to see it, he can. The telemetry is for the team, not the drivers.

"Do you actually depend on your teammate to drive the car? I don't think so. You depend on the mechanics."

Montoya said his dealings with team owner Frank Williams, who has seen plenty of champions come and go, were equally direct.

"If someone is doing something wrong you have got to go out and speak out. If I see something that is not going the way I want it in testing, for example, I'll just go straight to Frank and say 'Look, Frank. This is what's going on.'

"Winning is not about one thing...It's everything. You put it all together and you are going to win. If not, you're not.

"So you've got to know where you want to go."

Montoya will be the first Colombian Formula One driver since Roberto Guerrero, who raced in 1982-83 but failed to score any points, and he is proud to represent his country.

But, likely to be accompanied by his father Pablo at most races, he is also something of an exile now.

"If in future it is safe, I would like to," he said when asked if he would live in Colombia again. He dismissed suggestions that he might be a kidnap target in Bogota, however.

"In Colombia I am a pretty big thing, I walk anywhere and people recognize me. So when I go there I have security and stuff.

"I always try to bring good news to the country, you know.

"I'm really happiest when you go there and you see the faces of the little kids that look up to you. That's really cool."