Williams old boy Jones backs Montoya

The 1980 F1 champ, who won 12 World Championship Grands Prix in his career, says he thinks the Colombian ace, who won the 1999 CART title and 2000 Indy 500, could carry on the Williams tradition of hiring drivers who shake-up the F1 establishment. Jones won three races in his first season for Williams in 1979, before putting highly-respected team mate Carlos Reutemann, who had joined from Lotus, firmly in the shade the year after.

"I've got a feeling that Montoya might outshine his team mate Schumacher, who is quite highly regarded in F1," said Jones. "Jacques Villeneuve, of course, was a reigning Indianapolis 500 winner too, and he put a Williams on pole position at his Formula One debut in Melbourne in 1996. He would have won the race, but for an oil leak that forced him to slow, so his team mate Damon Hill won."

Jones, who went on to be a successful touring car driver in his homeland after his F1 career ended, is now a Grand Prix pundit for Australian station Channel Nine. He thinks the prospect of a Michelin-shod, BMW-powered Williams team is a tantalising one.

"BMW-Williams have been working very hard and I think they could be the dark-horses. While Ferrari and McLaren have stuck with Bridgestone tyres, the entry of Michelin introduces an unknown element - and I think that's what Formula One is all about and needs. The Melbourne race has produced a few surprises, and who knows what might happen this year?"

Although now 55, Jones has not finished his last Grand Prix yet, as he will have the honour of waving the chequered flag at Melbourne to end the opening race of the F1 season on March 4.

"I was lucky enough to receive the chequered flag quite a few times," he said. "But being on the other side of it, waving it, is going to be a total change - and something I'm really looking forward to."

Jones will also present a trophy which bears his name to the winner of the Formula Ford race which supports the Grand Prix at the Albert Park venue.