Monteiro’s first retirement

After a good demonstration behind the wheel of the Toyota powered EJ15B in the qualifying session the Portuguese could start from 13th position on the grid. Monteiro secured himself of the best ever qualifying position for a Portuguese driver in the history of Formula One World. Thanks to the penalties of Jarno Trulli and Jacques Villeneuve, Monteiro moved to the 11th spot on the grid.

In the 17th round of the season, Monteiro had to retire a race for the first time after he became the victim of a hydraulic failure in his single-seater.

Tiago Monteiro "I had to start to from the pits due to a problem that needed repair, preventing me from enjoying my 11th place on the grid. My new objective was then to beat Minardi and my teammate, Narain Karthikeyan. I lost a lot of time at the beginning of race behind Doornbos and Villeneuve, but all the same I managed two excellent stints when, combined with good pit stops, allowed me to move up the classification and in front of Narain and Albers. Unfortunately the mechanical problems caught up with me anyway, this time it was the differential and the hydraulic system. The steering became very heavy, then the car started to fail, and then stop... It is the first time that I have had a mechanical problem in the race - after 17 rounds – so really, I can’t complain."