Quote:
Originally Posted by wwmiv
... Scott Speed and Pablo Montoya were never spectacular F1 drivers. If Nascar drivers were really so amazing then why have none ever made the transition to F1?
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I wouldn't necessarily call the record below unspectacular.
Montoya's Formula One record.
Year - Series - Team - Number of Races - Poles - Wins - Points - Final Placing
2001 Formula One WilliamsF1 17 3 1 31 6th
2002 Formula One WilliamsF1 17 7 0 50 3rd
2003 Formula One WilliamsF1 16 1 2 82 3rd
2004 Formula One WilliamsF1 18 0 1 58 5th
2005 Formula One McLaren 16 2 3 60 4th
2006 Formula One McLaren 10 0 0 26 8th
Cars and teams, more than driver skills, determine who wins and loses F1 races. In F1, to evaluate driver skills, you should compare with the driver driving the other team car.
Ralf Schumacher, Montoya's teammate, finished the 2001 championship in 4th position. Ralf beat Juan with the same car.
Ralf Schumacher, Montoya's teammate, finished the 2002 championship in 4th position. Juan beat Ralf with the same car.
Ralf Schumacher, Montoya's teammate, finished the 2003 championship in 5th position. Juan beat Ralf with the same car.
Ralf Schumacher, Montoya's first teammate, missed most of the 2004 season after a wreck in Indianapolis. Juan beat Ralf with the same car.
Kimi Räikkönen, Montoya's teammate, finished to 2005 championship in 2nd position. Kimi beat Juan with the same car.
Kimi Räikkönen, Montoya's teammate, finished to 2006 championship in 5th position. Kimi beat Juan with the same car.
Additionally, with F1 teams, there is a #1 driver and car. Juan was in the #2 car every year he competed in F1. Ralf was at the time the 3rd highest paid driver in F1. And Juan still managed to beat his teams #1 driver half the time. In today's F1, that's like Mark Webber beating Sebastian Vettel in Championship points half the time.