Montoya's manager says F1 needs a shake-up

Sears, who manages Williams-BMW new boy Juan Pablo Montoya, was speaking at this year's Autosport International Show.

The Super Nova boss says the F1 spectacle needs improving and believes a character like Montoya, who drove for Sears in F3000, can only be good for the world's premier racing category.

"Montoya will be a breath of fresh air in F1," said Sears. "He takes no prisoners and will cut through a lot of the bullshit. He wants his driving to do the talking. There's going to be lots of fireworks."

Despite Super Nova and it's sister outfit, the Petrobras Junior team, taking four of the last six F3000 titles between them, Sears has never been tempted to move up to Formula 1. But the son of Sir Jack Sears still has strong opinions on what is lacking from the pitlane.

"There aren't enough pit babes in the F1 paddock," he said. "The whole spectacle needs to be improved. We need to get back to the days when men were men and the drivers were heroes."

Last year's top two from F3000, Bruno Junqueira and Nicolas Minassian, are also managed by Sears and have moved across the Atlantic to drive for Chip Ganassi in Champ Cars this year. Both have F1 in their sights, but must wait until suitable drives become available.

"There's a lot of young talent coming through," said Sears, "but there's a bottle-neck before F1 because there are only one or two seats available each year. Some of the older guys are blocking the seats - there should be sell-by dates on some of the drivers."

Sears is expected to announce his full F3000 driver line-up for 2001 early next week.