Although he’s far removed from the Formula One spy scandal that rocked his former team, Juan Pablo Montoya can understand how it happened in the ultra-competitive series.
“It’s just how Formula One is,” said Montoya, who spent six seasons in the series. “Teams are allowed to bend the rules too much. That’s just my personal opinion, but I always felt like people bent the rules and that some teams were allowed to bend the rules more than others. But this? This is crossing the line.”
McLaren was fined $100 million last week and expelled from this year’s constructors’ championship because the team was in possession of a 780-page dossier that revealed rival Ferrari’s technical secrets. It was later revealed through e-mail and text message exchanges that two-time world champion Fernando Alonso and test driver Pedro de la Rosa had intimate knowledge of the Ferrari setups.
Then, McLaren boss Ron Dennis said Alonso started the escalation of the scandal when he threatened to divulge compromising information to FIA, the sport’s governing body, after a team dispute at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Montoya said he wasn’t surprised to hear of Alonso’s participation, and said the champion was likely frustrated at the way Dennis was favoring teammate Lewis Hamilton. Both drivers are in their first season with McLaren, and are battling for the championship.
“Fernando is a nice guy, but he was the No. 1 at Renault and he was used to winning and getting everything,” Montoya said. “Then he went to McLaren, and when (wife) Connie and I heard that Lewis was going to be his teammate, we said ‘Oh my God.’
“We immediately felt sorry for Fernando because Lewis is Ron’s baby. Ron paid his whole career, so Ron wants him to win and not Fernando. He would rather see Lewis win, who is like his own child to Ron. Fernando is nothing to him.”
Montoya said he learned in two seasons with McLaren that Dennis can be like a Jekyll and Hyde. Montoya said he charms drivers while courting them to McLaren, but the charm is replaced by intense competition once the working relationship begins.
“Ron, outside the work environment, is a great guy,” Montoya said. “But he’s two different guys. The guy who I signed with and played golf with, he just didn’t exist in the office. He was just a different person. You wouldn’t even recognize him.
“He wants to control everything, and I think Fernando is (angry) about that because he is not used to someone controlling everything and did not like that Ron was like that. I think Ron is used to drivers who don’t say anything back. They are very quiet and very nice and do what everyone says, and I came along and he didn’t like that. Now I guess Fernando is the same way.”
Speed eyes NASCAR
Scott Speed is the latest former F1 driver to move toward NASCAR, announcing he will run the ARCA race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.
Speed will drive the No. 21 Toyota for Eddie Sharp Racing in the Oct. 5 event. The car will be sponsored by Red Bull, which has a five-year association with Speed.
Former world champion Jacques Villeneueve is also making the jump from F1 to NASCAR, and he’ll make his Truck Series debut this weekend in Las Vegas.
Busch could get M&M’s
Mars U.S. is finalizing a deal to use its M&M’s brand to sponsor Kyle Busch when he moves to Joe Gibbs Racing next season.
M&M’s would replace Interstate Batteries, which has sponsored Gibbs’ flagship No. 18 since its 1992 inception.
J.D. Gibbs, president of the race team, didn’t respond to a request for comment. But two people familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press that Mars was working on a deal to sponsor Busch that will be officially announced next month at M&M’s World in New York City.
