Juan Pablo Montoya is, for me, one of the best drivers’ behind the wheel in terms of car control. I was left frustrated though because I am a big supporter of him in terms of his abilities, but he never quite gave us 100 per cent. I think in the end that was his downfall. We saw 95 per cent of him, but the last 5 per cent is what is required to compete at the very, very top of
F1. I don’t think we ever saw that from him and it is a crying shame, because I think he had a lot, lot more to offer.
Q:
Which driver in the smaller teams -
Super Aguri, Midland/Spyker, Toro Rosso impressed you most?
MB:
Probably
Takuma Sato at Super Aguri - if I am honest, I think he came out of a difficult scenario, departing from the big
Honda team, BAR-Honda as it was known at that point and he went into a situation where it was very much an unknown in terms of what results would be forthcoming. We didn’t even see if the team was going to make it on to the grid until the very last moment. Once Super Aguri arrived though, he just knuckled down and got on with it. He pulled some very good drives out of the hat and I think he answered a lot of questions in many ways because he did everything that was asked of him and more. That was a testament to him.
Whether the car improves enough for him to get further up the grid in 2007 and make a bigger impression again, we will have to wait and see. But his form was definitely something that caught my eye as the season went on….
Coming soon: The second part of Mark Blundell's 2006 F1 season review. MB turns his attention to the teams...
