Montoya a Changed Man, Says Williams

Williams team-boss, Sir Frank Williams, believes Italian Grand Prix winner Juan Pablo Montoya is very much a changed driver since the Canadian Grand Prix.

Montoya made several errors during the Montreal weekend, on and off the track, which reportedly led to a stern talk between the Colombian and his team bosses. Since then, however, his results continually improved.

"He changed after Montreal in his approach," Williams said today. "The keyword I used was 'approach'. That means a number of things - his own attitude, the way he goes to work."

Gerhard Berger, BMW motorsport director, admitted that Montoya has struggled to get things right on the track in his maiden season in Formula One despite his Italian Grand Prix victory.

"Well, I would say watching Juan Pablo this year, I think he is a great talent," Berger said. "He has a lot of natural talent, a lot of car control. But he's still not able to use the potential of the car every weekend to the optimum.

"He just needs a bit more time, a bit more races to use all the tools what you have in Formula One to the optimum."

But the former Grand Prix driver backed Colombian Montoya to challenge for the title next season, when he has had a one-year familiarisation of Formula One.

Berger added: "In some race circuits we see him doing a fantastic job, some others he's still driving very good but he cannot get the job done because the car is not right or he couldn't get the car set-up right.

"So I think we're just going to see his real potential next year. This year was a bit too much at once. He had to learn some circuits, he had to learn to know the team. I think we forget how short he is in here and we're going to see a lot of good races of him in the future."