NOVEMBER 17, 2003

Montoya moves to McLaren in 2005

As we reported some months ago, Juan Pablo Montoya will be moving to McLaren in 2005. The news was announced on Monday by Team McLaren Mercedes.

"I am thrilled to be joining Team McLaren Mercedes," said Montoya. "The team is consistently a strong World Championship contender and has a fantastic heritage. It's a great opportunity for me and I'm really looking forward to the first time I will be able to drive one of their cars. To join them is an amazing challenge and experience which I plan to fully enjoy. However, my short term aim is to concentrate 100 per-cent on winning the 2004 World Championship."

The announcement is bad news for David Coulthard, although not unexpected, as Kimi Raikkonen is known to have a deal with McLaren for 2005.

"The opportunity to sign a talent like Juan Pablo was too good to miss," said Ron Dennis. "Juan Pablo has achieved a considerable amount of success in his career and we are certain that he will add to this with Team McLaren Mercedes. We are certainly looking forward to seeing what he can do in one of our cars and I believe that it's a prospect that can't fail to excite Formula 1 fans around the world."