Montoya upbeat over title

Juan Pablo Montoya is remaining upbeat about his world championship chances this year despite Ferrari's domination in the first three races of 2004

Along with BAR's Jenson Button, Montoya has taken the fight to Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello so far in 2004. Indeed, the Colombian has looked the guy the most likely to break the Italian team's current stranglehold with his fighting second place in Malaysia last month. In the recent Bahrain Grand Prix, Montoya was running a comfortable third until his gearbox failed forcing him to trail home 13th.

"You've just got to be positive and go for it," he said. "You've got to go for it in every race. You never know how many points you're going to score in a season, so you've got to score as many as possible today."

JPM also believes that the onset of the European season, which begins with the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola on April 25, could see Williams begin to eat into Ferrari's advantage.

"We're quick," he said. "Although we're not as quick as we want to be. But it's not like we're ten spots away. It doesn't look that bad. Particularly in consideration of the fact that there are still 15 more races to go."