Formula One: Montoya Given the All Clear

Kimi Raikkonen enters tomorrow's German grand prix knowing that the driver most likely to get in the way of his pursuit of the world championship is his own McLaren-Mercedes team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya.

The Colombian recorded his first victory of the season in the British grand prix at Silverstone two weeks ago and will not be playing second fiddle to Raikkonen as the Finn chases Fernando Alonso at the top of the drivers' championship.

Raikkonen trails Alonso by 26 points so has a lot of ground to make up in the final eight races of the season. But Montoya will not be doing his team-mate any favours.

"It is our belief that having two highly motivated racing drivers is the best way to win both the drivers' and constructors' world championship," said Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren's chief executive officer. "If we said to Juan Pablo, 'Right, you had your race win at Silverstone, now just tuck in behind Kimi for the rest of the season if you wouldn't mind', it would not be calculated to get the best out of him.

"We want to ensure that Juan Pablo has the maximum motivation for the rest of the year. Before winning at Silverstone the pressure was becoming a bit of a burden because people were saying to the team, 'Oh, you must regret signing Montoya', and others were saying to him, 'Oh, you must regret signing for McLaren'."

For many teams this might appear to be storing up trouble but the McLaren top brass remain sanguine about the prospect of some healthy internecine rivalry.

They have seen it all before, of course. Having managed the volatile and acrimonious partnership of Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna in 1988-89 they might be forgiven for thinking that Raikkonen and Montoya is kids' stuff by comparison.

"I believe that McLaren's track record in encouraging drivers is strong," added Whitmarsh. "But this is not magic. If you look back over the years it is difficult to find any public criticism made by us about any of our drivers.

"That's not to say we're easy on them - in fact we're quite demanding. They do make mistakes, we all do, but it's just not positive to make such criticism to the outside world. You sit down and speak to them. You explain to them that you have to make choices in life, that if you want to be a great world champion then this is what we [McLaren] believe you should be doing.

"But you cannot force them, nor are we trying to tell them what to do. The motivation and inspiration to achieve those goals must come from within themselves."

Montoya, in his first season with McLaren after switching from BMW Williams, does not appear to require any motivation. His has been an inconsistent season with a highest position of fourth before Silverstone, where his excellent performance in holding off Alonso was particularly impressive.

Now, with confidence renewed, he sees an opportunity to stamp his authority on the team in the remainder of the season.

"I think it was just a bit of a relief to get that win," he said. "It was nice to McLaren and it was nice to win at Silverstone. When you're running for a British team it's a race you want to win because I race for the team, and, coming here to Hockenheim, I won two years ago for BMW so it would be nice to get a win for Mercedes. I think the car is capable of doing that and hopefully we can show our true potential here again."

He added that the team also stood to benefit from their intensive work during testing last week at Jerez. "It went pretty good," he said. "We did plenty of running. I think we made a lot of progress. We were strong in the last race and we should be very strong here.

"We have been changing the car a lot, you know. My driving style is so different to Kimi's . . . that, you put anything on the car, I can't drive it. I could just drive it but if the conditions changed a bit it was a big problem for me, so we have been trying a lot of different things and in the last few races we have made a lot of progress."

The resurgence of Montoya has been noted outside the McLaren team, with Alonso in particular pointing to the 29-year-old Colombian as a threat.

"Juan Pablo is always very aggressive in a race situation and is not a good guy to have a fight with because you can finish in the grass quite easily," said the Spaniard.

"Because the McLaren is quick and they will always be competitive, then it is not a help for me, which means he could be a help for Kimi.

"I'm sure there will be times when Juan Pablo, Giancarlo [Fisichella, Montoya's team-mate] and also Michael [Schumacher] will help me in some races and take points off Kimi, but there will also be times when they take points off me."