Juan Pablo Montoya hated one ‘horrible’ thing that Adrian Newey designed at McLaren

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Juan Pablo Montoya spent a short time in Formula 1 from 2001 until the middle of 2006 when he left to race in NASCAR.

The Colombian stepped into F1 after winning the Formula 3000 title in 1998 and immediately hit the ground running at BMW WIlliams.

Montoya was blisteringly fast in his debut year but failed to finish in the opening four races. The Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos was the event he announced his arrival.

After the safety car restart, the Williams driver passed the reigning champion, Michael Schumacher. He dived up the inside into the Senna S. Montoya took the lead with a bold move, forcing the German onto the grass.

After narrowly losing the championship two years later, Montoya moved to McLaren for 2005. He partnered with the ice-cool Finn, Kimi Raikkonen.

The McLarens were very quick during the Colombian’s time with the Woking-based team. But Montoya has told AS Colombia he didn’t enjoy one aspect of the Adrian Newey-designed McLaren car in 2005.

Juan Pablo Montoya didn’t enjoy the ‘horrible’ mirrors on the 2005 McLaren

The McLaren MP4-20 was very quick and had the potential to deliver both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships on pure pace.

McLaren suffered from unreliability, halting their progress and allowing Fernando Alonso and Renault to win the titles.

Raikkonen was fighting for his first world championship but didn’t finish due to mechanical issues at Imola and at Hockenheim.

This had a knock-on effect as he took engine penalties in France at Magny-Cours and at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

READ MORE: Red Bull staff share what impact Adrian Newey’s exit has made on this season’s car troubles

Montoya lacked the raw speed to match his McLaren teammate and also didn’t enjoy the mirrors Newey designed as they were very difficult for him to see out of.

He explained that the McLaren in 2005 had very thin mirrors which moved around on the straights and at high speed.

Montoya said: “I had Adrian in the first year at McLaren. The car was designed by Adrian and he left in the middle of that year to join Red Bull.

“He didn’t design the next car and I remember it’s very funny because the mirrors on the 2005 car were horrible you couldn’t see anything. He put them super low, and they were thin so on the straight they were moving around. You couldn’t see anything at all.”

Adrian Newey is moving to Aston Martin next season

Newey has been incredibly successful over his career, winning multiple championships most recently at Red Bull.

The designer is leaving the Austrian team and joining Aston Martin next season to be part of an exciting project with Fernando Alonso and works Honda engines.

Alonso is looking forward to working with Newey and the pair have been rivals for much of their careers as they competed for championships.

Newey should inject some much needed experience as they look to return to the front and race for wins and titles in the future.