da Matta learning the F1 trade from Montoya

On the curve
By Site Staff
January 15 2003

Cristiano da Matta has revealed that he has turned to fellow ex-CART driver Juan Pablo Montoya for advise on how to survive in the world of Formula One. Juan Pablo has advised Cristiano to expect big differences between the two racing disciplines.

"I talked to Montoya about what the differences are or what was more difficult to get used to and the main differences on the way to drive the car," Cristiano has been quoted as saying by ESPN. "But not about why he succeeded or not.

"He told me that the most difficult thing is that you have a very short time to adapt to a lot of things. He says even though the speeds and the horsepower and a lot of things are very similar between the two series, everything else is different, like the way of working, the size of the teams, everything, tracks, cars, the grooved tyres, the car weight, the electronics.

"He says get the maximum out of every test and every time you are in the car, and when you are with the team try to learn as much as you can. It's been a very, very intense pre-season."

da Matta gets his first taste of the new Toyota TF103 in a couple of weeks time at a test at Paul Ricard.

One of the other areas that might compromise the CART star is the new qualifying procedure, where the driver has just one lap in which to record a qualifying time. "It is definitely not easy, but it is one challenge too," he said when questioned about this. "If I am very used to the car, I feel like one hour is enough to learn the track.

"When you are not used to a car, maybe one hour is not enough time, but with the amount of testing we are planning to do this year, hopefully I am going to be well acclimatised by Melbourne. For sure there is some expectations, but people coming from CART have nothing to prove any more. You have enough. Everybody knows how tough the series is, so I have nothing to prove from that series."

It is widely speculated that Cristiano may turn out to be a prize catch for the Toyota team, and the fans are no doubt looking forward to see what he can do.