Juan Pablo Montoya Q&A
After being overshadowed by team mate Ralf Schumacher in his first two Grands Prix, Juan Pablo Montoya really silenced the doubters in Brazil. He was fastest in Saturday morning practice, but lost his shot at pole when he went off on his first qualifying run and had to take the spare. He started fourth but immediately jumped up to second when Mika Hakkinen stalled and Ralf got bogged down. But it was the safety car restart where he really made his presence felt, charging past Michael Schumacher and gently elbowing the World Champion out of the way. Thereafter he had no problem staying in front, and surprised those who thought he might be making two stops by staying out. But then he came up to lap backmarker Jos Verstappen, and the likelihood of the first Williams win for four years was history. But he had made his mark in the biggest possible way, and most importantly, let Michael know that he's arrived. Autosport.com's Adam Cooper spoke to JPM immediately after the race
"I'm a bit disappointed, but still it was a good race, and we could show some performance, which was quite good."
"I got off the line really fast, had quite a good tow on him, and when we got to the end of the straight I was still maybe a car or two behind him. He just braked too early and I went for the inside."
"Well, I braked and I couldn't give him too much room because then in the next one I was going to be screwed, so..."
"Yeah, with a heavy load and everything. We were two or three tenths faster than David, and about half a second quicker than Michael, so it was pretty good. It was looking very strong, but you never know what could have happened."
"I don't know. I saw he was racing with Fisichella, and they were racing each other quite hard. When we were going down the straight he moved to the left, but he never backed off. So when we got to the braking area, I guess he just braked too late."
"No I haven't yet. But it would be nice if he comes and apologises..."
Read Juan Pablo Montoya's exclusive column in this week's Autosport, on sale on Thursday April 5
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