Montoya Will be Quick, Says Button

Benetton driver Jenson Button thinks newcomer Juan Pablo Montoya will be quick and he admits he is looking forward to racing against the Colombian next season.

Button, who made his Formula One debut last year, was forced to leave Williams to make room for 1999 CART champion Montoya, but the young Brit showed no harsh feelings against the Colombian star, saying he will have a successful career in Formula One.

"I think he's going to be quick," Button told Autosport. "We've already seen what he can do in testing. Frank [Williams] knows what he's doing.

"It will be good fun to race against Montoya this year he has a good package and a good team behind him."

Button, who recently admitted he thinks Benetton will be fighting with Williams for third place in the Constructors' Championship, also believes he will be winning races soon.

"I want to be winning Grands Prix in the next three years," he admitted. "And I can't see why not. So many things have to be perfect to be in a position to win, but certainly in 2002 and 2003 I want to be winning.

"Flavio [Briatore] is not someone who's come back to F1 just to stand and watch. We've got Mike Gascoyne from Jordan and Renault engines, it's a great package. As we go through the season, I think we can show that."

The young Brit also talked about traction control, which is due to make its return to Formula One this season, something that has created a lot of controversy.

Button, as many others, believes it will be positive to make sure that all the teams are playing under the same rules, but he also admits he enjoyed racing without it.

"There's lot of different views you can take. On one hand, it's better for the likes of Williams and Benetton to have it, because there was all sorts of rumours about who was running what last year.

"But it was more fun to drive without traction control and I've found it takes a bit of getting used to. The rear of the car is now very settled, which means you can accelerate earlier and it causes understeer. I've had to change my driving style to adapt."