Williams F1

Montoya's Win at Monza

Before heading to Monza, Technical Director, Sam Michael, reflects on Juan Pablo Montoya's first win with the team, back in 2001 at the Italian Grand Prix...

Juan Pablo Montoya started this race from pole position. I remember that his pole lap was just under 160mph, which was a barrier that he’d go on to beat at Monza the following year.

He was unchallenged in the race, which was a great feeling for him because it finally launched him into being a grand prix winner. This win actually came about three races after the German Grand Prix, which he’d dominated as well until he was stopped by an engine failure. From a team point of view, we were very happy that Juan Pablo had finally put away a win, having had a couple of pole positions earlier in the year as well.

This win set the stage for the next few years, when Juan Pablo showed what a fantastic driver he was. He had a lot of natural talent and I remember him overtaking Michael Schumacher in only his third grand prix, which was pretty special.

He was a very charismatic driver and a fantastic racer. There are some people who can drive cars clinically fast and analyse things, but sometimes they are not the best racers. In races you’ve got to take risks; you’ve got to go off-line and not be afraid to try different things, and Montoya was definitely one of those.

Tagged with montoya, historical reflections, monza, italy.