German Car Zone

Well folks, this is the very last time i'm creating a thread about F1 in this section, 'cause few minutes ago i'm definitely out of this sport. I told myself yesterday i'm gonna stop following it immediately after JPM is leaving F1 and these news confirm it.

Here, for you, JPM haters:

Following the news at the weekend that Juan Pablo Montoya had signed a contract with Ganassi Racing to compete in NASCAR next year, McLaren Mercedes confirmed this morning that the Colombian and the team have parted ways, effective immediately, with Pedro de la Rosa taking the race seat this weekend at the French Grand Prix.

The following is a press release from McLaren Mercedes.

Team McLaren Mercedes and Juan Pablo Montoya have mutually agreed for him to step down in the forthcoming races of this year's Formula 1 World Championship. The team has decided that Pedro de la Rosa will join Kimi Raikkonen in the race driver line-up.

Juan Pablo has been an energetic member of the team since 2005, but will now spend the next few months based in Miami with his family and wife Connie who is expecting their second child in September. Following his agreement with Chip Ganassi Racing for next year, Juan Pablo will also be making initial preparations for his debut in a Chrysler Dodge NASCAR.

Pedro will make his second race appearance for the team following a thrilling points scoring debut in the 2005 Bahrain Grand Prix.

Ron Dennis, CEO and Chairman of the McLaren Group
"Juan Pablo is an exciting driver and immensely likeable character who will undoubtedly make a successful transition to the NASCAR scene.
We have agreed that with so many things happening in Juan Pablo's life right now, he should take some time out of the car and prepare professionally and personally for the future."

Norbert Haug, Vice President, Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
"We believe that Juan Pablo's decision to move to NASCAR is very important for him professionally and we will give him every support to ensure that it is a successful transition."

Juan Pablo Montoya
"I know that it will be a tough transition but I'm really excited about the opportunity to move into the NASCAR championship. I have enjoyed most of my time in Formula 1 and I'm grateful for this opportunity to settle my personal life and concentrate on my future career."


Pedro de la Rosa
"I'm of course extremely thrilled to have this opportunity to race the MP4-21 – a car in which I'm really comfortable. I know the MP4-21 better than anyone else and I'm confident that I can achieve important World Championship points for the team."

E.A.
Source McLaren Mercedes

From:Racing-Live.com

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I know that many of you will be happy about this and i could agree; if there's any driver that knows the MP car as his own pocket, that's Pedro! Congratulations, McLaren! I really hope that Pedro will be brilliant, as always, and i hope he'll show more... Even more than Kimi. Good luck, McLaren fans, i wish you all the best.

Saying goodbye to F1...

with compliments.
TycoonGTR

I fully thought that McLaren would have kept him on for the rest of the season with the rumors that they're looking at Lewis Hamilton for the second seat next year if Raikkonen leaves.

It is sad that he is leaving for Nascar but you can allways jump on the Alonso train and cheer for him.

Why not just be a team supporter like me?

Thx for your work at mclaren in the past days..good luck jpm! I thought i would miss you.

No thanks. I wish him all the best, as to every young(er) F1 driver (Button, Kimi, Rosberg, etc.), but no thanks.

Sorry, man, can't do it. Regardless of how much i'm BMW fan, i can't. Imo, someone must represent BMW Power "on the road" and the only person that has done it in the best way was JPM while he drove for BMW Williams. After he left, everything went downwards. I don't doubt that NH is a great driver, but still... BMW & Montoya was the perfect combination... Pitty, that's past now and probably will not happen... Never again.

yea,i feel sorry that BMW didn't rehire him.. anyway,hope he's going to be able to getting his act together in narscar..

hey TycoonGTR, do u hate Ron Dennis for destorying Montoya's F1 career? He didn't really support montoya through out his stay with Mclaren. Joining Mclaren might have been monotoya's biggest mistake.

So what does this has to do with the french GP witch we all now will be won be Alonso/Renault ?!

French GP without Montoya, F1 without Montoya... This is the next race where we won't see JPM by the wheel, but Pedro.