Ex-Formula 1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya remembers his rivalry with Michael Schumacher and reveals what annoyed him the most back then
Few drivers have left such a legacy in Formula 1 as Michael Schumacher. The German dominated the premier class in the early 2000s with Ferrari like no other before him, winning a total of seven world championships and etching his name in the sport’s history books
However, Schumi’s career was not without controversy. His ambition and uncompromising nature meant that he sometimes overstepped the boundaries of sportsmanship and clashed with rivals on and off the track.
One of them was Juan Pablo Montoya. In the Formula 1 podcast Beyond The Grid, he talks about his infamous encounter with Schumacher at the 2004 Imola Grand Prix, where he accused the German of being “either blind or stupid” after an incident on the first lap of the race.
“They were faster us,” Montoya, then in the BMW-Williams, looks back on the duel with the Ferrari driver. “But we were really fast on fresh tires. So I had to go for it straight away, and that’s what I did.”
“To be honest, it was okay for me: he pushed me off the track and I would have done the same. So it was okay for me. I tried, but he pushed me off.”
“Then when they asked him in the interview what happened, he should have just said, ‘I pushed him off the track.’ I would have been fine with that. But he said: ‘I just didn’t see him’,” recalls Montoya, who felt that was an excuse at the time and reacted accordingly.
Montoya: Everyone was scared of Schumacher
Imola 2004 was not the only tough encounter between him and Schumacher. On the long list of incidents, the crash in the Monaco tunnel in the same season is also legendary. But Montoya denies the question of whether he was tougher with Schumacher because he was Michael Schumacher.
“The thing about Michael is that nobody really fought him. When Michael came up from behind, everyone was just like, ‘Oh, Michael’s coming! Everyone got out of his way. That annoyed me. Why do you do that? “
Everyone had so much respect for Schumi that nobody wanted to mess with him, says Montoya. “And my approach to the races was that I drove like an asshole. People thought I was crazy, but it worked.”
“When I put the car into the corner, they knew I wasn’t going to back off. So they had two options: Either make way or there would be an accident. “
On one occasion, Montoya even celebrated with Schumacher
Despite their rivalry, Montoya then reveals in the podcast that he and Schumacher even celebrated together once: “The only time I spoke to Michael was when I was driving for BMW and he was still with Ferrari, and Norbert Haug invited us to a party at the Nürburgring after the race.”
“I said yes because we were staying there anyway. I went because Norbert invited me. And then there were Michael and Rubens and the three of us got drunk. That was it. “
In the end, it’s just like normal life: Nothing is eaten as hot as it is cooked. And so the former rivalries fade over time. “Let me give you an example,” says Montoya. “The relationship I had with Villeneuve when we were racing was murderous. We hated each other.”
“And when I returned to the races later, we looked at each other and laughed about it. But back then we almost came to blows at the drivers’ meeting in Canada. I got in his way and he retaliated with a brake test. We collided and he blamed me. And I just thought: ‘F*** you’. “
