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Montoya insists Indy not a must-win for F1 title
Indianapolis, Sept 26: Juan Pablo Montoya is not ready to call Sunday`s United States Grand Prix a must-win race, but the Colombian knows time is running but to overtake Michael Schumacher for the Formula One title.
Indianapolis, Sept 26: Juan Pablo Montoya is not ready to call Sunday's United States Grand Prix a must-win race, but the Colombian knows time is running but to overtake Michael Schumacher for the Formula One title.
Winning the Italian Grand Prix two weeks ago gave Ferrari's Schumacher 82 points in the drivers championship, three ahead of Montoya and seven in front of Kimi Raikkonen of Finland as the German bids for a record sixth F1 crown.
The only race remaining after the 73-lap showdown here is the season-ending Japanese Grand Prix in two weeks at Suzuka. A top-five finish by Montoya would deny Schumacher his record sixth F1 crown and carry the fight to Asia.
"Well it's kind of odd, but I don't have to win the race, really," Montoya said yesterday. "I need to make sure I finish next to Michael and Kimi and that doesn't make it necessary to win. I think we have to wait and see what happens. But we'll take it as it comes."
Seizing the point lead from Schumacher would be nice. Staying near is vital.
"It's go out there and do what we can," Montoya said. "It's a three-point difference. We can narrow the gap so it could be ideal. We've got to try to stay in contention with Michael and make sure Kimi doesn't get ahead of us either. So it's going to be a quite interesting race."
Montoya said he is set to become a free agent once his Williams BMW contract expires after next season even as reports claim he has already signed a deal to begin driving for Mclaren Mercedes in 2005.
Bureau Report
Winning the Italian Grand Prix two weeks ago gave Ferrari's Schumacher 82 points in the drivers championship, three ahead of Montoya and seven in front of Kimi Raikkonen of Finland as the German bids for a record sixth F1 crown.
The only race remaining after the 73-lap showdown here is the season-ending Japanese Grand Prix in two weeks at Suzuka. A top-five finish by Montoya would deny Schumacher his record sixth F1 crown and carry the fight to Asia.
"Well it's kind of odd, but I don't have to win the race, really," Montoya said yesterday. "I need to make sure I finish next to Michael and Kimi and that doesn't make it necessary to win. I think we have to wait and see what happens. But we'll take it as it comes."
Seizing the point lead from Schumacher would be nice. Staying near is vital.
"It's go out there and do what we can," Montoya said. "It's a three-point difference. We can narrow the gap so it could be ideal. We've got to try to stay in contention with Michael and make sure Kimi doesn't get ahead of us either. So it's going to be a quite interesting race."
Montoya said he is set to become a free agent once his Williams BMW contract expires after next season even as reports claim he has already signed a deal to begin driving for Mclaren Mercedes in 2005.
Bureau Report