Tiago Monteiro - Season review

Tiago Monteiro only joined Jordan Grand Prix a few weeks before the start of the 2005 season but by the end of the year he was toasting success after finishing 18 of the 19 races and scoring his first podium finish.

Monteiro, 29, scored points with Bridgestone tyres on two occasions, in the United States and Belgium, and finished a creditable 16th in the Drivers' World Championship in his debut season.

Tiago Monteiro "I could not have dreamed of a better first season in Formula One. To have finished 95 percent of the 19 races was a really great team achievement. The car has been amazingly reliable this year and the tyres have been good too and that was essential for me to learn as much as possible and gather as much information as I could to take forward for the future."

The Portuguese driver joined Jordan after a season in the Dallara Nissan World Series in 2004. He spent the previous year competing on Bridgestone tyres in the Champcar World Series the previous year.

He admitted finding the transition to Formula One tough at first but performed well once he had settled in and became the first Portuguese driver to finish on a Formula One podium at Indianapolis. His finest drive, though, came in the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, where he claimed a point for eighth place despite enduring treacherous weather conditions for much of the race.
"The podium at Indianapolis was unexpected and a great moment for us. It was fantastic to be on the podium and see all my mechanics and engineers so happy, cheering for me. The point scored at Spa was also a great moment, especially as it was a tough race in difficult weather conditions, but we changed tyres at the right time and were able to hold off Christian Klien."

Surprisingly, despite the highlights of Indianapolis and Spa, Monteiro's most satisfying moments came in races where he finished outside of the points positions, at the European and Monaco Grands Prix.
"I really enjoyed the Nurburgring, as I was fighting with the teams ahead of us. Monaco was tough, but it was very satisfactory to be able to finish such a long and challenging race."

Mechanical failure in the Brazilian Grand Prix caused his only retirement of the year and he admitted: "Sao Paulo was very disappointing as it was the only time I had to retire and it came just 15 laps from the end. It was very frustrating because otherwise we may have finished all 19 races, which would have been unbelievable. However, that's racing and it will unfortunately happen again.

"The high points of the year have been so great that they outweigh the bad ones. Once again, I would like to thank the whole team for a fantastic season and hope I can continue in Formula One next year."