JULY 29, 2002

Montoya will stay at Williams

It has not yet been confirmed but there is no doubt that Juan Pablo Montoya will be staying at Williams for the next couple of years. There has been talk for some time that both Ferrari and McLaren might be interested in the services of the Colombian rising star and although Ferrari may have some emotional appeal to Montoya he is not likely to head off to Italy unless there is a strong technical team in place. At the moment the whole of "Schumacher Era team" is expected to break up when Michael retires - whenever that may be.

That will mean that Luca di Montezemolo, or whoever is the president of the company by then, will have to build up another great team - which will not be easy.

Our feeling is that Montoya is more likely to be lured away from Williams to McLaren if the Williams-BMW package is not much more competitive next year.