Montoya Planning to Make Points in Monaco

Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya expects to finish in the points in Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix to make up for his nightmare performance in 2001.

"Last year was horrible. If I can get out of here with some good points I will be happy," the Williams Formula One driver told a news conference on Wednesday.

Montoya, who crashed out of the Monaco race after two laps last year, is second in the Championship after six races, but trails Ferrari's four times World Champion Michael Schumacher by 27 points.

German Schumacher is in dominant form and a further victory on Sunday would give him a record-equalling sixth Monaco Grand Prix win in his 100th start for champions Ferrari. The German and Montoya are the only two drivers to score points in every round so far this year.

"It's way too early in the week to say how quick we are going to go," said Montoya. "We were really expecting in Austria to be as quick as them and we were not.

"I would be very surprised if we can't be competitive here. We seem to be really strong in qualifying against them (Ferrari)," added the Colombian. "If we can qualify ahead of them here than half the job could be done, you never know."

Williams technical director Patrick Head has targeted the race as one that he would love to win, particularly after last year's disappointment.

"It certainly wasn't a good experience in that Juan hit a barrier very early in the race," Head told reporters at the last race in Austria. "I think he hadn't quite got the hang of what Monaco is all about.

"It's a race that we've won twice but an awful long time ago, in 1980 and 1983. We led it by 30 or 40 seconds in 1992 and the same in 1996 but we've made some awful messes of Monaco as well.

"It's a race that I personally would really like to see us win because...I think its a great test of mental discipline on behalf of the driver, the mechanics, the engineers."