MARCH 25, 2001
Montoya anticipating good support
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA believes that the support he will receive from his fans at the Brazilian Grand Prix will spur him on for his first finish of the season next week.
Thousands of fans from Colombia are expected to make the short journey into Brazil and Montoya is confident of delivering a good result in front of his home fans.
"The Brazilian GP should be a positive race weekend, as Interlagos is a good track for us." said Montoya. "But theoretically Malaysia wasn't supposed to be a good track for us and we were pretty quick so, you can never tell.
"I've never been there but I have fond memories of Brazil because I've raced in Rio de Janeiro with the Champ Car and I won there.
"It should be pretty exciting, as this is the closest race to my Country. I except to be lots of Colombian fans there and this will be a really great sensation."
After bouncing back from the horrific accident that marred the Australian Grand Prix, Ralf Schumacher bounced back to take fifth place in Malaysia, but knows that the Brazilian track will be a lot stiffer test.
The German driver said: "The Brazilian Grand Prix is amongst the most demanding races of the F1 calendar. The Interlagos track should be a really good one for us, a bit like Malaysia.
"Usually in Brazil it's very warm, which helps our tires and doesn't affect our engine, which is very good anyway.
"I see problems only if it should rain, because on a wet track or when it's drying out, we still have some gaps.
"I hope that the track surface has been really improved, because in the past years I experienced a real pounding so much that after a few laps I already had a headache."