It was preordained that Jacques Villeneuve would go to Formula One, while Alex Zanardi had some unfinished business there and everyone understood Juan Montoya was simply on loan to CART before marching off to the grand prix wars.

But, unlike those former CART champions, Cristiano da Matta isn't convinced he's going to a better place when he heads to F1 next year. If anything, the 2002 CART champ is reluctant about leaving Champ cars for Toyota's F1 team.

Sure, the press release issued Tuesday offered all those bubbly quotes about his "ascension" to F1, but everyone who knows the 29-year-old Brazilian understands it was the toughest decision of his career.

Leaving the uncertain future of CART for the riches and glamour of F1 would seem like a no-brainer. People are questioning da Matta's sanity for even taking the past few months to pull the trigger.

But the straight-shooting, hard-driving little gem we came to know as "Shorty" isn't driven by F1 money, Monaco or getting his photo taken with Michael Schumacher.

He's all about being competitive and leading and winning races. He came to the United States in search of an opportunity and wound up replacing Michael Andretti in the highest profile ride in American open wheel racing.

During the past nine months da Matta has been as brilliant, as quick and as clean as anybody before him. He was just as dominant as Andretti, Zanardi or Montoya in their finest moments. This past summer, as darkness fell on Mid-Ohio one evening, he weighed the pros and cons of leaving CART for F1.

	Da Matta clinched the 2002 CART title last month in Miami.

"I have no desire to go to F1 and run for 10th place," he said. "This team has become my family. They care about me and we have had a lot of fun and a lot of success.

"Just to be called a Formula One driver isn't enough for me. I do this because of the competition and there isn't much competition right now in F1."

Whatever happened in the past couple months; whether Toyota dropped its demand that da Matta be a test driver for a year, or Carl Haas got the contract buyout from Toyota he desired or Cristiano succumbed to the pressure from his father, Toninho, to go to F1, or he looked at all the defectors and figured CART wasn't going to be the same challenge for a couple years, he finally caved.

"We all told Cristiano he could always come back to America but there aren't that many opportunities in F1," said Bruno Junqueira, da Matta's lifelong friend who will replace him in the Newman-Haas car in 2003. "It would have been great to be teammates next year but I think it's a good move for him."

There are several reasons to miss da Matta. He's a genuine kid with a good sense of humor that plays a mean electric guitar and has perfected a pretty decent impersonation of a NASCAR spotter ("Clear, inside, still there") that cracks up his crew.

On the track, he's a blur of consistency and speed who's aggressive yet fair to race with.

He's also refreshingly honest about his feelings.

	“	I don't know how F1 could talk about (CART) being a training ground. Half of our drivers are better than those F1 guys and I don't agree we're a learning area. This is the most challenging racing in the world. Nobody else runs ovals, street circuits and road courses. ”
		— da Matta

A few days ago at Surfer's Paradise, Australia, a local reporter asked about CART's potential union with F1 to be its feeder system.

"I don't know how F1 could talk about our racing as being a training ground," he replied, getting as close to indignant as he can. "Half of our drivers are better than those F1 guys and I don't agree we're a learning area.

"This is the most challenging racing in the world. Nobody else runs ovals, street circuits and road courses."

The fact Toyota was so impressed with da Matta after one test speaks well for CART, but losing another champion to F1 doesn't help CART with its identity crisis in America.

"My last two years in America with Newman-Haas Racing is what a race driver dreams about," said da Matta last weekend at Fontana, Calif, after dropping out while leading the California 500.

"Formula One is what I dreamed about when I began racing and I know Toyota will give me every opportunity to succeed just like they have in CART.

"But it was still a very difficult decision."

And another tough loss for CART.