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cavallino

Montoya Leaves Mclaren, Replaced By De La Rosa (Now Official)

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I am quoting grandprix.com, but bear with me since they are quoting a Spanish source I have no access to

The Spanish TV station Tele 5, which broadcasts F1 races is reporting that Juan Pablo Montoya may be dropped by McLaren and replaced for the rest of the year by Pedro de la Rosa. There is a certain amount of logic in all of this as Montoya wants to start preparations to go into NASCAR as soon as he can.
Makes sense, though I doubt if it will be De La Rosa. With the championship lost, it's a perfect time to give Paffett a run, I don't know if it is posible for Hamilton to participate. Montoya is not going to have any reason to try now, he will jsut be a waste of a good seat.

edit: Here is a link to the report in Spanish.

http://f1.informativos.telecinco.es/

update: Official now

Woking, Great Britain, Tuesday 11th July 2006: Team McLaren Mercedes and Juan Pablo Montoya have mutually agreed for him to step down in the forthcoming races of this year's Formula 1 World Championship. The team has decided that Pedro de la Rosa will join Kimi Raikkonen in the race driver line-up.

Juan Pablo has been an energetic member of the team since 2005, but will now spend the next few months based in Miami with his family and wife Connie who is expecting their second child in September. Following his agreement with Chip Ganassi Racing for next year, Juan Pablo will also be making initial preparations for his debut in a Chrysler Dodge NASCAR.

Pedro will make his second race appearance for the team following a thrilling points scoring debut in the 2005 Bahrain Grand Prix.

"Juan Pablo is an exciting driver and immensely likeable character who will undoubtedly make a successful transition to the NASCAR scene," said Ron Dennis, CEO and Chairman of the McLaren Group. "We have agreed that with so many things happening in Juan Pablo's life right now, he should take some time out of the car and prepare professionally and personally for the future."

"We believe that Juan Pablo's decision to move to NASCAR is very important for him professionally and we will give him every support to ensure that it is a successful transition," said Norbert Haug, Vice-President, Mercedes-Benz Motorsport.

"I know that it will be a tough transition but I'm really excited about the opportunity to move into the NASCAR championship," said Juan Pablo Montoya. "I have enjoyed most of my time in Formula 1 and I'm grateful for this opportunity to settle my personal life and concentrate on my future career."

"I'm of course extremely thrilled to have this opportunity to race the MP4-21

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Hmmm. Let's see now. The source is a Spanish TV station. Pedro is Spanish. Hmmm. :eusa_think:

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Not really emphasising the rumour, I was going to make a thread anyway before I saw that report. There is no point for either side to carry on, Montoya has clearly said he doesn't care about F1. Mclaren need to decide on their second driver, what better way of doing that than trying them out for some inconsequential races.

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The only thing that will stop them from trying Paffett would be the fact that they know, for sure, that PDLR can score points. Though not the fastest guy on track, he was a consistent finisher and always kept out of trouble, so he would be good to score points. They don't know that about Paffett. If they decide they don't care as much about points, they might do what they did last year, and give both test drivers a go on various races for comparison purposes (though last year it was mostly just because they wanted to give each driver a chance as a "thanks").

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Don't give it to Paffet.... What a joke that would be... unproven.. PDR or anyone who is proven..

PDR is test driver and will stay so next year too unless leaves Mclaren, Paffett however is canditate for race driver and as such should be tested to see how he handles in actual competition.

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PDR is test driver and will stay so next year too unless leaves Mclaren, Paffett however is canditate for race driver and as such should be tested to see how he handles in actual competition.

The best solution in my opinion would be to give PDR the second race seat and give Paffett a testing role. After a year Paffet should be in a much better position race.

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what the hell? this better be some silly spanish rumour, whats the point in putting PDR in the car for the rest of the yhear, its not like he's going to be racing for them in 2007. JPM should see out the year with dignity and try to get another win or 2. A top driver like him shouldnt bow out of the sport in this way

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what the hell? this better be some silly spanish rumour, whats the point in putting PDR in the car for the rest of the yhear, its not like he's going to be racing for them in 2007. JPM should see out the year with dignity and try to get another win or 2. A top driver like him shouldnt bow out of the sport in this way

Montoya caused a pile up which took out a 3rd of the feild. I think it was a perfect last race for Montoya.

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I guess he means all the rookies!!And that's probably right!If we want to have competition and fights for victory, the good cars should be in the hands of the experienced drivers!

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The problem is that these days there arnt any teams that introduce rookie's based on talent. Minardi used to be the team which brought young drivers into formula 1 and if they impressed in a Minardi then they were signed by faster teams. Alot of drivers in modern F1 started in Minardi including Alonso. Unfortunantly there arnt any teams like Minardi anymore so its harder for fast Rookie's to make it into F1.

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The problem is that these days there arnt any teams that introduce rookie's based on talent.

rosberg?

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But are Williams going to keep introducing rookie's each season like Minardi did. Rosberg was a one off.

no not every season, i see your point, it may be harder for rookie's to break into f1 now that minardi have gone

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Yeah. Maybe they still will, at some point in the near future. PDR can probably score more points for them though at this stage, so they have to weigh it all up. Its always sad for someone to leave this way, if JPM definitely has.

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This is terrible, its now been announced by mclaren so its definately true. I'm very sad. 1 of the only 3 drivers who I always really want to do well has gone!

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pdr proved himself last year by standing in for montoya and he will do good this year too

that was only 1 race. He was also team-mate to Eddie Irvine and got thrashed

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I remember reading something about Pedro being promised that he gets to drive if either driver is not available, so I think this step was automatic. However I don't see Pedro doing 8 races, unless Mclaren are serious about giving him a race drive for next year. I doubt that for many obvious reasons, and also I don't see Mclaren running 2 Spanish drivers, that is just a wasted marketing oppurtunity.

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