Montoya Sees Room for Improvement Next Year

Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya believes there is still a lot of room for him to improve despite his impressive debut year in Formula One.

The Williams rookie, former CART champion and Indy 500 winner, scored three pole positions and only one victory despite fighting for the top spot on several occasions in 2001.

But the 26-year old Colombian, who is expected to be one of the favourites to wins races next season with the BMW-powered Williams, believes he can still improve a lot.

"I look at the way I was driving a year ago and it's amazing how much I've evolved," Montoya told Motorsport News magazine. "The things I was doing - it's like 'come on, get a grip.' There's a lot of room to improve, especially in qualifying.

"In trying to get a clean lap I often restricted myself from pushing so hard. I need to learn just to let it go."

Montoya was one of the few men capable of presenting a challenge in some races to World Champion Michael Schumacher, in a season where the German was dominant and clinched his fourth crown. But Despite a few clashes with the Ferrari driver, Montoya believes Schumacher is a fair driver.

"You can race against Michael. I think Michael is fairly smart in the way that he knows it's a long race and he won't take himself off trying to hold a position," he added. "You saw it in Indianapolis. He let me by and five laps later my car broke down."