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Inside Motor Sports
Formula One champ Michael Schumacher sizes up his biggest threat next season By Mark Bechtel
With experienced technical minds and a pair of talented young drivers -- F/1 rookie Juan Montoya and Schumacher's 26-year-old brother, Ralf -- Williams is enjoying a renaissance. Ralf Schumacher ended a 3 1/2-year winless drought at San Marino on April 15, and since then he has added two victories. While Ralf has been the more consistent of the Williams drivers, Montoya poses a greater threat to the champ next year. Team boss Frank Williams was so eager to lure Montoya, who had been a test driver for him in 1997, back to England from the U.S. that he let go of Jenson Button, a popular 21-year-old Briton. Technical glitches have prevented Montoya from completing 11 of the 16 events this season, but he has a first, two seconds and a fourth in the five races he has finished. "The overwhelming sentiment on the team is one of deep anxiety," says Williams, "anxiety that we won't keep it going." A cheeky 26-year-old from Bogotá, Montoya claimed the CART championship in 1999, as a rookie, and won the Indy 500 the following year before making the jump to F/1. He had a great chance for another victory at the Brickyard on Sunday. In a move that left his front tires smoking, he blazed past Michael Schumacher on the inside of Turn 1 for the lead on the 34th of 73 laps. Montoya called it "good fun." Alas, hydraulic problems forced him off the track five laps later. Schumacher described the race as a pretty ho-hum affair -- except for Montoya's pass. "I still don't know where he came from," Schumacher said. At least he knows whom to look out for next year. Issue date: October 8, 2001
For more Inside Motor Sports see this week's issue of Sports Illustrated, on newsstands Wednesday, October 3. Click here to subscribe to SI.
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