Juan Pablo Montoya was the troublemaker of Formula 1 when he landed in 2001. We saw him lead it hard for Michael Schumacher with authoritarian overtaking, the Colombian arrived from the IndyCar crowned with a championship title in 1999 and the 500 Miles of Indianapolis in 2000.
When asked how it felt for him to be the number one public enemy in Italy when he won the Formula 1 race in Monza in 2001, Montoya said: “You had to beat her every week, you see what I mean? Especially when you came to Italy, of course you always wanted to beat them there.”
“And we were always very good at Monza, so it was very special. It was interesting because being Colombian and Latino made a lot of Italians really like me. So I think there were a lot of mixed feelings.
“But Ferrari is always linked to so much tradition, and after all these years getting into a Ferrari and doing a few laps was really nice.” Montoya added.
Montoya admitted that he had to resist the urge to push a legendary and valuable chassis like that of the F2008 to the limit comparing it to his Formula 1 cars at Williams and McLaren.
“When I left Williams, I never thought the McLaren would drive so differently. It was a big shock in the beginning. It is just as difficult to drive this car because the tires are much harder than the ones we drove But the feeling in the car is really good, you can tell how well everything is designed. “ Montoya said.
“It’s difficult because you want to drive it really hard, but you don’t want to make a mistake and damage someone else’s car.
“If you think about it, it was with this car that Ferrari won a constructors’ championship for the last time. In addition, Felipe Massa almost won the title in an unforgettable showdown in Brazil.” he added.
