Montoya's battle of wills

2003-07-17 19:03

Silverstone - Juan Pablo Montoya stepped up his battle of wills with his Williams teammate Ralf Schumacher ahead of Sunday's British Grand Prix by calling in extra help to boost his world championship campaign.

After finishing second to Ralf in the last two races, the Colombian has become increasingly frustated at being overshadowed by his German team-mate.

As a result, he has insisted that Williams bring in Frank Dernie to work alongside his usual race team.

Dernie, a Williams employee two years ago, was instrumental in taking Montoya to the Champ Car title in the United States before the Colombian's switch to Formula One in 2001.

"Frank will work with my engineer and put in ideas. I mentioned to the team after Magny-Cours that I needed more help to develop the car," said Montoya.

"It will be a case of a little fine tuning."

Montoya, who has an uneasy relationship with Ralf Schumacher, believes that he is the quicker driver but as yet results have yet to bear him out.

Williams' head designer Patrick Head even suggested that Ralf's greater experience in Formula One was one reason why the German is six points ahead of the Colombian in the title race.

"I only lose out to Ralf in qualifying on a Saturday," said Montoya.

"But I am quicker in Friday qualifying, warm-up and practice. I don't think it's a case of him having more experience.

"I can develop the car quicker than Ralf, but he is getting more out of the car.

"Maybe he takes more risks on the Saturday."

Montoya, whose only win this season came in Monaco, is still bristling from his experience at Magny-Cours in the French Grand Prix two weeks ago when he came in for his final pit stop hoping to take the lead only for his teammate to immediately change his strategy and dip into the pits straightaway.

"I changed my strategy and then Ralf did the same. I think it was his idea to change but the team has every right to call him in.

"I needed another half a second to get past him but it wasn't there. I was very frustrated because I wanted to win the race and I thought I had a fair chance," added Montoya who was third here in 2002 despite having started from pole.

- SAPA