Bogota, Aug 08: Colombian Formula One pilot Juan Pablo Montoya is still short of admitting he could be the next world champion. Formula One driver Juan Pablo Montoya said on Thursday (August 7) that he will remain with the Williams team throughout 2004, but that he's already to explore his options. "I have a contract with Williams until the end of 2004. For 2005, I have talked to various teams, because the truth is that I am a free man, the truth is that I have to look into my options," the Colombian pilot said. " I have to see what will happen with Ferrari, what will happen with McLaren, what will happen with Williams, what will happen with Toyota. Looking into the future, Toyota seems a very interesting option, because Toyota has an unlimited project, so the things they can accomplish can be amazing." Commenting on his next race in Hungary at the end of August, Montoya said the Williams team is ahead of the game. "Monaco has the same style as Hungary, and we won this year in Monaco. So the chances that we'll do fine (in Hungary) are very high, very very high, and the current temperatures must improve the performance of the tires," Montoya said, but added that the tricky part of Hungary's race is the tracks condition.



"That's the million dollar question: the tires should work fine, but it's also about Hungary's exclusive pavement, a track they almost never use. One of the major problems in Hungary is that the track has a lot of dirt."


Despite of winning on Sunday (August 3) the German Grand Prix, at the news conference Montoya said that being the world's champion in 2003 will not be easy.

"I'm in a very strong position compared to Michael (Schumacher), but I don't want to rely on that or say that I will be champion this year until I do win. It's very difficult to say, I prefer to wait and see if I win the championship. Either I win it or not, I did the best I could."


The ten points Montoya picked up with victory in the German Grand Prix on Sunday put the Colombian second in the Formula One World Championship standings, just six points behind leader Michael Schumacher with four races to go.


Bureau Report