Melbourne, Mar 04: Juan Pablo Montoya, winner of two races last year, refused to be cajoled back into the room at Sandown International Raceway in southern Melbourne and drove off with his entourage after a brief altercation. The Colombian, who joins Williams' rivals McLaren at the end of the season, was to have been the star guest at a day organised by team sponsor Allianz. His schedule included driving a celebrity around the track after spending the afternoon with important clients of the insurance company. But that did not happen. Before the interruption, the 28-year-old had given his thoughts on the season ahead and his chances of winning a title that he almost won last year, before finishing third overall after a three-way tussle for the championship with Ferrari's Michael Schumacher and McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen. Montoya said the 'million dollar question' to be answered was the performance of his radical-looking new Williams after thousands of miles in testing to sort out reliability.


Bureau Report