Freshrubber Blog

Juan Pablo Montoya does not regret making the move. “Formula One drivers are convinced that they’re so much better than anyone else,” Montoya, who races alongside Dario Franchitti, the Scottish driver, for the Chip Ganassi team, said. “When I was in F1, every week I was on the podium. It was cool, but is it satisfying? It wasn’t, because it was the most boring races. The guy who started in front of you would drive away from you and the guy who was behind you would drop away from you, unless you f***ed up in qualifying and then you need to have a different pitstop strategy to beat them.” Although Nascar is very much an American sport, there are attempts to raise its appeal outside the United States, to tap into the disaffection many feel with Formula One, whether through the Max Mosley saga or the the lack of competitive racing. “It’s boring,” Montoya said. “It’s a shame because the technology these cars have and the amount of companies that are involved is unreal. I don’t know how big companies do it for such a long time without results.” In Nascar, there are more than 40 cars racing wheel to wheel for up to three hours. “It’s harder here,” Montoya said. “When you run fifteenth, sometimes you think it sucks. But look at the big picture: fifteenth here is like sixth or seventh in F1, because there are twice as many cars. The incredible thing is here I run fifteenth or twentieth on average and there are four or five weeks in the year where I have a chance of winning. In F1 if you run sixth or seventh, you run sixth or seventh the whole year. “It doesn’t matter if you’re running for the lead, or for 30th, you’re always racing somebody. That’s much better.”

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