Pedro News Opciones

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3/27/05

Montoya May Miss the Bahrain GP

Juan Pablo Montoya may be forced to sit-out next weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix after injuring his shoulder playing tennis in Spain at the weekend, Autosport-Atlas can exclusively reveal.

The Colombian hurt his left shoulder while playing tennis with trainer Gerry Convey in Spain on Saturday. His McLaren team has confirmed that he suffered a hairline fracture of the shoulder with some tissue damage after slipping over.

Although the team has claimed a final decision about Montoya's participation will be made later this week, sources claim that Montoya has been advised to rest it for up to three weeks to avoid aggravating the injury. It means that he could miss the Bahrain event but should be back in the cockpit for the San Marino Grand Prix, on April 24th.

A team spokeswoman said: "We will make a final decision on Thursday." That means Montoya could still be forced to fly to Bahrain just in case he is fit enough to race.

It is understood that Montoya is undergoing medical tests today and further tests will be held tomorrow.

If Montoya misses the race it is almost certain McLaren reserve driver Pedro de la Rosa will be called into action to race for the team in Bahrain, after running on the Friday of Grand Prix meetings so far this year in the team's third car.

The difficulty for McLaren will then be in finding a replacement third driver, because fellow test driver Alexander Wurz is too tall to fit in the current version of the team's MP4-20 chassis.

The news of Montoya's accident has come after what has been a fairly disappointing start to the season for McLaren. Although their new car has shown itself to be both quick and reliable, niggling problems have managed to keep both Montoya and teammate Kimi Raikkonen off the podium so far this year.

Montoya's absence from Bahrain will ironically bring some good news to the Colombian, however, because it guarantees that he will not miss the birth of his first child, which is due within the next few weeks.

Source: www.autosport-atlas.com

Well... We may be patient, waiting news.

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Well, here in this topic we will post English news about Pedro.

I start, copied from the Spanish Forum:

McLaren's third car is 'key'
Third driver believes that extra Friday running may be crucial for McLaren. By Jonathan Noble

McLaren third driver Pedro de la Rosa has told autosport.com that he believes the Woking-based team must make the most of its extra car on the Fridays of grand prix weekends if the team is to capitalise on the promise of its MP4-20.

The Mercedes Benz-powered team's 2005 challenger has been marked out as one of the pre-season favourites for victory in Melbourne, but de la Rosa is adamant that with rivals Renault showing as much speed in testing up until now, the third car could provide the added muscle needed to lift McLaren to the top.

Speaking to autosport.com about the team's chances for the year, a beaming de la Rosa could not hide his confidence about the MP4-20 and was eagerly awaiting getting on with his Friday role.

“We have made a very good car - that is the truth,” said de la Rosa. “And Michelin has made a very big step forward. We really have to take advantage of having the third car, which is my job. It's a lot of responsibility on me and I'm very happy to take that."

McLaren's dismal start to the 2004 campaign, where its MP4-19 was left struggling near the back of the field, meant the outfit could manage no better than fifth overall in the constructors' championship – even though the transformed MP4-19B helped Kimi Raikkonen win in Belgium.

That fifth placed finish means that McLaren qualifies to run the third car on the Friday of grand prix weekends throughout 2005 – a factor that could prove a massive advantage. Last year BAR benefitted from the input of Anthony Davidson with its third car.

De la Rosa added: "The car is very quick, and it's so driveable. You don't have to fight the car this year, and so far we haven't had any engine problems. Reliability is good. In terms of speed, Renault are on a par with us, so we have to be careful, but we are very well prepared for the season and let's see in Melbourne.”