JUNE 25, 2006

Montoya and Williams

The suggestion that Juan Pablo Montoya may go back to Williams in 2007 underlines two things: firstly that Montoya is definitely out of the picture at McLaren and secondly that things are beginning to get desperate for the Colombian. It is clear that Red Bull is showing little or no interest in Montoya beyond being polite and Toyota seems to be moving closer to agreeing a deal with Jarno Trulli. Williams has options on both of its drivers and while the rumours suggest that the team might be a little worried about paying Webber more money in 2007 there is actually no major increase as the rumour-mongers are saying. Our sources say that the option will hike his salary by $500,000 which in F1 terms is next to nothing. There is obviously frustration that Webber has not been getting the results he is capable of scoring but at the same time the team is forced to accept that he has been incredibly unlucky this year. The fact that Mark is handling the pain so well is an indication of what a solid and stable driver he has become and the indications are that while there may be one or two who think that going back to the fireworks of Montoya might be a good idea because of the Colombian's latent talent, Webber is a more solid player in the longer term, particularly given Montoya's less than impressive two years at McLaren.