Montoya helps out da Matta

Formula One rookie Christiano da Matta has been getting some advice from Juan Pablo Montoya on what to expect in his debut F1 season. Montoya was the last driver to make the move from the US CART series, which da Matta won last season, to F1 before da Matta himself and the Brazilian has been picking up some hints and tips from the Williams star.

"I talked to Montoya about what the differences are or what was more difficult to get used to and the main differences on the way to drive the car. But not about why he succeeded or not," da Matta told ESPN. "He told me that the most difficult thing is that you have a very short time to adapt to a lot of things."

"He says even though the speeds and the horsepower and a lot of things are very similar between the two series, everything else is different, like the way of working, the size of the teams, everything, tracks, cars, the grooved tyres, the car weight, the electronics."

"He says get the maximum out of every test and every time you are in the car, and when you are with the team try to learn as much as you can. It's been a very, very intense pre-season."

Da Matta has been fairly satisfied with his progress in winter testing with Toyota and his main focus is getting used to a new car. The team has much more testing scheduled between now and the season opener at Melbourne in March and its newest driver is hoping to be settled in by the time he takes to the grid.

"It is definitely not easy, but it is one challenge, too," da Matta commented. "If I am very used to the car, I feel like one hour is enough to learn the track. When you are not used to a car, maybe one hour is not enough time, but with the amount of testing we are planning to do this year, hopefully I am going to be well acclimatized by Melbourne."

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