Montoya 'could challenge for victory'

"I think I can challenge my team mate and even perhaps lead," Montoya claimed. "It is going to be exciting," he added. "I have got to try and make a good start so that we will be looking strong into the first corner."

The Colombian suggested it was not beyond the realms of possibility that he could have stolen pole from Michael Schumacher during qualifying at the Interlagos circuit.

The Williams driver, in his first season in Formula 1 and in only his third race, will start fourth after bouncing back impressively from a spin at the start of the session.

"In the first two races in qualifying I was taking it easy, but this time I felt the car was good enough to go flat out," said Montoya. "I gave it a try and it worked. I was three-tenths faster than Ralf in the morning so I think there was a big possibility I could have been on pole even at one point."

Montoya even went so far as to claim that the lap that netted him fourth in the early stages was cautious.

"Admittedly, I was a bit surprised to go fourth fastest straight away because I wasn't pushing," said the 1999 CART champion. "I just did a lap to put the car on the grid. I thought I would probably be 10th on the grid!"

In fact, Montoya thought he would be unable to qualify at all. After a crash on his first flying lap, an official refused to let the Williams star return to the pits.

"The official told me I had to stay where I was for the rest of the session," he continued.

"I asked him how could I get back to the pits. He told me I couldn't. It was ridiculous. There was no car, no motorcycle to ferry me back. They kept saying 'stay here, stay here'.

"In the end I crossed the track anyway. There were not any cars coming. They have not fined me for crossing the circuit, not yet anyway."