Juan Pablo Montoya is going to NASCAR and will leave F1 with immediate effect. I shall miss you, Juan Pablo, but I think that is a great result all round. Some people in the F1 paddock will see your departure as a demotion, it is not. Formula One is only one branch of motor racing, as circuit racing is only one branch of motor sport.

Juan Pablo has had some wonderful moments in Formula One and we are the better for them. It has been clear for some time that his temperament, and his talent, were being wasted in F1.

J P M was FIA F3000 Champion in 1998 when he also signed as Williams test driver. He then replaced Alex Zanardi in the Target Chip Ganassi Racing Team in CART, and gave Toyota its first win in CART. He won the Indianapolis 500 in 2000 and there was nobody else in the race, he dominated, with panache.

In 2001, his debut season in F1, Juan Pablo won a Grand Prix (Italy) for Williams and for a driver to win in his first year is a rare occasion. In 2002 he was usually at the sharp end of the grid, he took pole ten times in his F1 career and that is impressive. He might have won the title for Williams BMW in 2003, but he made a couple of mistakes and there was a falling out with the team.

I have been wondering if there should be an adjective before 'mistakes', something that would describe the enormity of them. They were mistakes and I am not qualified to comment on them. I have never been crouched in a cockpit trying to stay alert with g forces hitting me from every angle. A footballer makes a bad pass which gives the opposition the opportunity to put together a series of moves which results in a goal, and the bad pass is soon forgotten. A racing driver goes into a corner at a speed, and with the commitment, that most of us cannot even imagine, his judgement is out by a sliver of a second, and in that instant he becomes Total Tosser.

Sir Frank and Patrick do not like to see their car leading a race only for it to crash. They have spent years developing a car so it can lead a race and sincerely they do not want it thrown at the scenery especially with BMW breathing down their necks. On the other hand, the talent, the passion, call it what you will, which empowered J P M to be in a Williams BMW, and to lead Grands Prix, was the same element of character which caused him to make mistakes.

Williams has a peerless record in promoting drivers to F1, Sir Frank understands drivers better than anyone because he wanted to be one. To discover how hard something is, you always go to the second or third tier, never to the top. You cannot ask Michael Schumacher about driving a car any more than you can ask him about growing his hair.

The dismal performance of Williams BMW in 2004 had to be laid at the door at someone, BMW itself could not be responsible. When there is a big company involved there has to be blame, because the board of directors are incapable of being wrong.

I draw your attention to the BMW range of road cars which was once the prettiest of any manufacturer. BMW's current styling is, er, a matter of debate. Nobody was responsible for the current styling save for former chief stylist, Chris Bangle, who has been moved sideways.

Sorry, but every concept has to pass scrutiny. It goes from a pencil sketch to the board of directors. When Ford produced the ugliest car in years, the updated Scorpio, there were a lot of people at many levels who could have raised objections to how hideous it was, and few things have been more clearly grotesque, but nobody raised objections. It was like the emperor's new clothes.