Montoya: I am as quick as Raikkonen

The Colombian driver joined Raikkonen from Williams, but he failed to match his teammate's results in 2005, finishing 52 points behind the Finn, runner-up to Fernando Alonso in the standings.

Raikkonen scored seven wins while Montoya, who missed two races due to injury, won three on his way to fourth place in the Championship.

But despite the results, Montoya reckons he is as quick as Raikkonen.

"I think, honestly, that we are both equally fast and that, as demonstrated last season, we alternate taking the upper hand between us based on the car's characteristics," Montoya told SportAutoMoto.

"When Kimi finds himself with a better car than mine, he beats me. But when I set up my car better than he does, I beat him. That's it, as simple as that."

"Kimi is a difficult rival, but not impossible and I demonstrated that in the last third of the previous season. I won at Monza and Interlagos and I could have done it at Spa too, if Kimi didn't need a certain help in order to gain the maximum possible amount of points for the Drivers' Championship."

Montoya also admitted he was happy with what he had achieved.

"To tell you the truth, I don't think I could have done better than I did, nor I could have got better results," he added. "Kimi is very fast, I repeat, but I showed I'm able to be as fast.

"Besides, don't let yourself be fooled: every top driver in this series is able to win races and the championship as long as you have the right car at the right time. And if your teammate is more comfortable with a certain car and knows the team better, then this can make a huge difference."