Jenson says Montoya “will be quick”

Button, who enjoyed a brilliant rookie season with Williams BMW last year before being loaned out to Benetton, believes that Montoya will have a successful debut in Formula 1 in 2001.

"I think he's going to be quick," said Button. "We've already seen what he can do in testing. Frank [Williams] knows what he's doing. It will be good fun to race against Montoya this year - he has a good package and a good team behind him."

Although he remains coy about what will happen when his loan spell with Benetton ends, Jenson - who finished eighth in last year's World Championship - enjoys the prospect of teaming up with the Colombian at Williams in 2003.

"That would be fantastic," he said. "But we'll see what kind of job he can do this year first. Ralf [Schumacher] is no slouch, and it's going to be tough between them. I hope they get on together...or not!"

Ironically, Button feels that Benetton's closest rivals in 2001 will be Williams, as the Enstone team aims to improve on fourth place in last year's Constructors' Championship.

"We aim to be fighting Williams for third place," Jenson added. "Flavio [Briatore] is not someone who's come back to F1 just to stand and watch. We've got [technical director] Mike Gascoyne from Jordan and Renault engines - it's a great package. As we go through the season, I think we can show that."

Although he has yet to feature on an F1 podium, the 21-year-old Englishman has set his sights on winning in F1 sooner rather than later.

"I want to be winning Grands Prix in the next three years," he said. "And I can't see why not. So many things have to be perfect to be in a position to win, but certainly in 2002 and 2003 I want to be winning."

On the subject of F1's hottest topic, traction control, Jenson has yet to make up his mind about it. The system's return is expected to be given the green light in time for the Spanish Grand Prix in May.

"There's lot of different views you can take," he said. "On one hand, it's better for the likes of Williams and Benetton to have it, because there was all sorts of rumours about who was running what last year. But it was more fun to drive without traction control and I've found it takes a bit of getting used to. The rear of the car is now very settled, which means you can accelerate earlier and it causes understeer. I've had to change my driving style to adapt."