JUAN PABLO MONTOYA sympathises with the current plights of Formula 1 world champions Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.

Montoya, the winner of seven Grands Prix since his debut in 2001, switched to America’s premier NASCAR series in the middle of the 2006 season, disillusioned with his situation at McLaren.

"To Alonso and Hamilton I say ‘welcome to the club’,” the 33-yearold Colombian told Spanish news agency EFE from the latest round of the Sprint Cup.

The charismatic Montoya said the fact that success in Formula 1 is only possible with the very best car had become “monotonous” throughout his six years on the grid.

“That it is now happening to them is really sad,” he said. Montoya said other aspects of the so-called pinnacle of motor racing also left him disillusioned.

“In the beginning you fight and you’re happy to be there,” he said of Formula 1. “I did fast times, I got several poles, I won some races. The perfect dream.

“But after two or three years you see how everything in the team works, how it is manipulated. And you see that if you want to win you have to be with a particular team and that’s pretty frustrating,” said Montoya.

He added also that it was frustrating that, if a team’s single-seater is not born competitive, there is “nothing you can do” to return to the pace in that season.

Meanwhile, the almost forgotten Hamilton concedes McLaren face a difficult home race in Germany this weekend as the team will not be introducing major upgrades to their under-performing MP4-24.

This season has been anything but successful for McLaren and their defending world champion as their 2009 challenger has sorely lacked speed, something the team have struggled to find even when adding upgrades.

As a result, Hamilton and his teammate Heikki Kovalainen have not scored a single point in the last four races — leaving McLaren down in sixth place in the constructors’ standings — a marked difference to last season’s achievements.

And, unfortunately for McLaren fans, Hamilton is not expecting any better at the next race in Germany as well.

“While we aren’t expecting any major upgrades for this weekend, I’m still looking forward to the race,” he said. “It’s an honour to be part of the Silver Arrows and, while our results haven’t recently shown it, we’re still pushing incredibly hard and are all hopeful of moving closer to the front before the end of this difficult season.”

However, Hamilton is nonetheless eagerly awaiting a return to the Nurburgring, which last hosted a Formula 1 race back in 2007, Hamilton’s first season in the competition.

“It’s a fantastic circuit, a little older than a lot of the current tracks we visit and with quite a different feel to what we’re used to. It’s fast and flowing with some good spots for overtaking,” he said.