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Juan Pablo Montoya was one of the most talented drivers of the early 2000s in Formula 1.
The 2001 F1 season became iconic for introducing one of the strongest crops of rookies in the recent history of the sport, including Juan Pablo Montoya at Williams.
He raced alongside two Formula 1 world champions who also made their debuts that season Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, with Enrique Bernoldi, also introduced to the sport by Arrows.
Alonso’s Minardi campaign was one of the best point-less seasons in history while Raikkonen turned heads after requiring special dispensation to race in F1 that year.
However, Montoya and Raikkonen were the first two stars of the quartet to mount a serious challenge for the drivers’ championship in 2003.
The pair were up against Michael Schumacher that year with the German eventually completing his fourth consecutive title at the final race in Japan.
Montoya had experience winning championships having won the CART title the year before signing for Williams and the Indianapolis 500 on his first attempt.
With two races to go, Montoya went into the United States Grand Prix two points behind Schumacher and four ahead of Raikkonen.
However, on the MontoyAS Podcast, he suggested that Schumacher’s Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello – who achieved 11 Grand Prix victories during his career – was ordered to crash into him to prevent him from challenging the legendary F1 star for the championship.
Juan Pablo Montoya says Rubens Barrichello was ordered to crash into him during the 2003 F1 season
Montoya was asked about his crash with Barrichello at the 2003 United States Grand Prix that handed Schumacher the title and said: “No matter what I would have done, Rubens had the order to crash into me.
“Practically, Rubens, we left the track and he told me, what a shame. They told me that I had a broken gearbox and everything.
“They told him that he couldn’t let me pass him, no matter what it costs and that was their strategy.
“It’s what Checo Perez did in the year of the controversy with Max. Hold on, no matter what.
“Lewis could not pass, wherever Lewis would have tried to pass, they [would] crash. It was exactly the same, I had no choice because I had to pass because we had to be able to get to where Michael was to be able to fight [for the championship].
“If not, I wouldn’t have won anyway and at the end of the day, in hindsight, nothing would have changed because I went to Japan, I was winning and the engine broke! That would have hurt!
“If you look at the complete picture, it was horrible, but it’s what teams do.”
Juan Pablo Montoya penalised for Rubens Barrichello collision
Montoya finished sixth after his collision with Barrichello, leaving him out of contention for the title with Raikkonen nine points behind Schumacher.
The Finn nearly overturned the deficit at the final race in Japan by finishing second and Schumacher picking up a single point.
The Colombian driver received a drive-through penalty from the stewards for his collision with Barrichello, angering him even more.
Montoya and Barrichello had gone into the first corner side-by-side but the Brazilian was marginally ahead coming out of the chicane before the front right wheel of the Williams hit the back left tyre of the Ferrari and sent him spinning.
Reflecting on the incident after the race, he said: “A very disappointing race, basically decided by the penalty I was given for the accident with Rubens and the moment I had to pay it.
“Due to the changeable weather conditions, in fact, it started to rain hard just when I was given my ‘drive through’ penalty, which forced me to delay by one lap my pit-stop to change onto wet tyres.
“It is sad to lose my Drivers’ Championship chances in this way, especially knowing that I just needed to finish fifth today, to keep my hopes open.”
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