Juan Pablo Montoya had every reason to be confident of success at the United States Grand Prix, his Williams/BMW/Michelin package probably the strongest of the field. But the Colombian lost the opportunity to continue to fight for the title after a torrid race in which he could only finish in sixth place. Atlas F1's Richard Barnes reviews Montoya's disastrous weekend in America

After a long, hot and dry summer that had seen his status rise from 'future star' (pre-Monaco) to chief title contender, Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya had every reason to be confident going into the US Grand Prix weekend at Indianapolis. A string of eight successive podium finishes, including wins in Monaco and Germany, had placed the Colombian in prime position to unseat Ferrari's Michael Schumacher as the sport's champion driver. Just three points adrift of Schumacher, and equipped with a reliable and competitive car on ostensibly superior Michelin tyres, Montoya was the man tipped by many to be the 2003 champion.

Until the rain fell. Montoya should have known that the searing European summer heat and sunny skies wouldn't last forever, and that the elements would eventually swing in Schumacher's favour, as they have done so often before. Even still, the suddenness and magnitude of the turnaround must have left both men stunned. Schumacher is publicly basking in the unexpected bonus of another Indianapolis win, which has all but sealed his sixth WDC title. Montoya, like Senna before him, has closeted himself away from the inevitable public scrutiny to face his bitter disappointment alone.

If it's any consolation for Montoya, he's certainly not the first Williams title hopeful to endure such a setback. The most obvious examples from recent memory are Damon Hill's infamous shunt with Michael Schumacher at Australia '94, and Nigel Mansell's rear tyre blowout at the same race in 1986, which handed an unlikely WDC triumph to McLaren's Alain Prost. However, the closest parallel can be drawn with another unfortunate Williams driver from five years earlier - Argentinean Carlos Reutemann.

Like Montoya, Reutemann fitted the stereotype of the Latin racer - feisty, fast and aggressive. By 1981, he'd learnt to curb the natural aggression of his earlier years, and become a smoother and quicker driver. Partnered at Williams with reigning champion, Australian Alan Jones, Reutemann enjoyed his strongest championship challenge in 1981. The Williams was the class of the field and, with two races to go, Reutemann held a three point championship advantage over nearest rival, Brabham's Nelson Piquet.

Like in 2003, the 1981 F1 circus headed to North America for the second last race of the season, the difference being that it was held in Canada and not the US itself. However, the teams would stay in North America for the season finale, heading south across the border to the street circuit at Las Vegas. At Canada 1981, just as at Indianapolis 2003, rain played a deciding role. After qualifying on the front row of the grid alongside arch-rival Nelson Piquet, Reutemann banged wheels with teammate Jones on the first lap, and dropped down the field. It was a position from which he would never recover, eventually finishing three laps adrift of winner Jacques Lafitte. Piquet's fifth place wasn't stellar, but it was enough to narrow the championship chase to a single point.

At qualifying for the season finale in Las Vegas, Reutemann went one better, taking pole position while Piquet languished in fourth. However, after a poor start in which he lost three positions, a curiously subdued Reutemann was never on the pace, slipping back through the field to a non-points finish as Piquet once again struggled to fifth, two points - and the WDC title by a single point.

Unlike Mansell and Hill, Reutemann had no race-ending crash or mechanical retirement as solace. He was able to finish the race, just not high enough to clinch the championship. It remains one of the most inexplicably mediocre championship-challenging race performances in memory. At Indianapolis, Montoya too had the sickening experience of running the full race distance in a competitive car, and finishing frustratingly below expectations. In short, Montoya too played a central role in his own downfall. Yet he shouldn't be dwelling on the negatives.

Decisiveness is a key factor in any champion's mental makeup, and Montoya was nothing if not decisive in his approach to the weekend and the race. His choice of a high speed/low downforce setup was a dry-weather gamble that would have paid dividends if the rain hadn't fallen. On that long Indianapolis main straight, with more than twenty seconds at full throttle, Montoya was unstoppable. Schumacher had used the low downforce setup to race-winning effect at Monza, and Montoya can't be blamed for emulating the German's approach at Indianapolis. But on a genuinely wet track, the twin handicaps of low downforce and Michelin's inferior wet tyres turned the Colombian into a midfield runner.

Montoya may have been powerless to stop the rain, but he could and should have done more to prevent his other decisive move (and mistake) of the race - the attempted pass on Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello, which ended in retirement for Barrichello and a drive-through penalty for the Colombian.

The truly complete driver takes cognizance of circumstances outside the cockpit, as well as those in-car. Ferrari and Williams came to Indianapolis locked in a very tight tussle for the Constructors' Championship. Any contact between the two manufacturers' cars, however incidental or light, was always going to be viewed in a very serious light by the FIA officials and race stewards.

Montoya's move on Barrichello might not have been reckless, and the penalty might not have been fully deserved. However, from Montoya's viewpoint, the move was also entirely unnecessary. With Barrichello struggling due to gearbox problems and slipping back through the field, the ailing Ferrari was never going to be able to defend against Montoya's overwhelming speed advantage on the long main straight. Montoya could have breezed past with the minimum of resistance, as he did against so many other competitors during the course of the race. Instead, he chose to force the issue at a spot that is not recognized as a viable passing opportunity. Waiting till the main straight at the end of the lap would have been the safer option, and even a struggling Barrichello would not have hampered his progress by more than a couple of seconds in total.

Inexplicably, after showing such mature restraint and patience at Monza, Montoya allowed impatience to get the better of him. The rest of his afternoon's woes, the drive-through penalty and another agonizingly slow lap as he toured in for an overdue change to wet tyres, all flowed from that single decisive but ill-advised moment. As much as Montoya may decry the officials for imposing a harsh penalty, he shouldn't have given them the opportunity in the first place. Schumacher, like Prost and Lauda before him, showed that it isn't necessary to be fastest on every lap to win consistently.

Montoya will absorb that lesson, just as he has done with every other lesson throughout his short F1 career, and will emerge from it a better driver. Carlos Reutemann never got the chance to make good on his heartbreaking near miss for Williams in 1981, and retired the year after. Montoya will get another chance, if not several, and he will doubtless capitalize and become World Champion as so many have predicted. It would have been truly great for Williams and Montoya to have dethroned Michael Schumacher on the verge of an historic sixth WDC title. And, but for one hasty decision, Montoya could still have been in the running to achieve just that. Instead, he has been relegated to a position of helplessness as Kimi Raikkonen now finds himself the sole and improbable threat to Schumacher's championship effort.

Raikkonen is not there by dint of superior machinery, he is still in the hunt because he has the will to fight every inch of the way and the patience to let chances come to him. Even if the young Finn's hopes rate between slim and zero, he's still on the championship dance floor with another opportunity to unseat Schumacher. The significance of that won't be lost on Juan Pablo Montoya. Besides the frustration, the disappointment, the terse media statement and the hurried and indignant exit from Indianapolis, one of the best drivers in the world just took another character-building step towards becoming the very best.