JPM: 'I'll beat Ralf again'

Juan Pablo Montoya says he will continue to have the upper hand over team mate Ralf Schumacher after out-qualifying him at the Austrian Grand Prix. The Formula 1 rookie, who joined BMW-Williams from the US-based Champ cars series this season, outpaced Schumacher Jr to claim second place on the grid in only his sixth F1 race. His team mate, meanwhile, starts Sunday's race one place further back in third

May 12, 2001, 6:32 PM

"I did get quite a bit of satisfaction in beating Ralf," said the Colombian. "It has taken a while to get things turned around, but now hopefully we will continue to have the upper hand.

"Last night, I had a long talk with my engineer because I really thought we needed to raise our game," continued Montoya. "There has been a lot of things we have not been doing right. This morning things went well and it paid off."

Neither Williams drivers exchanged looks or congratulated one another after securing BMW-Williams best qualifying position this year. And the former CART champion and Indy 500 winner admitted relations between himself and his team mate, although at times frosty, have helped to push the team forward.

"I wasn't surprised he didn't look at me to be honest," he said. "The atmosphere is good because we push each other quite hard. We are racing at each other's level. We are not best mates and that is fine."