Official: McLaren confirms Montoya for 2005.

Team McLaren Mercedes has today [Monday] announced that Colombian driver Juan Pablo Montoya will join the team for the 2005 Formula One season.

Montoya, who will race for BMW Williams F1 in 2004, graduated to F1 in 2001, and has since claimed three F1 victories, 11 pole positions and finished third in this years' World Championship.

"I am thrilled to be joining Team McLaren Mercedes," said Montoya. "The team is consistently a strong World Championship contender and has a fantastic heritage. It's a great opportunity for me and I'm really looking forward to the first time I will be able to drive one of their cars. To join them is an amazing challenge and experience which I plan to fully enjoy. However, my short term aim is to concentrate 100 per-cent on winning the 2004 World Championship."

Team McLaren Mercedes added that they 'will confirm their full 2005 driver line-up at a later date but the team's 2004 Championship challenge will be lead by David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen'.

"We want to win races and World Championships, and in order to do so we have to plan for the future whilst applying every effort in the short term," commented Ron Dennis, CEO and chairman, TAG McLaren Group. "The opportunity to sign a talent like Juan Pablo was too good to miss, and there is already a considerable amount of anticipation within our team about 2005.

"Juan Pablo has achieved a considerable amount of success in his career and we are certain that he will add to this with Team McLaren Mercedes. We are certainly looking forward to seeing what he can do in one of our cars and I believe that it's a prospect that can't fail to excite Formula One fans around the world. However until that happens we will be focusing all efforts on our 2004 Championship challenge."

"Juan Pablo has become well established in International motor racing within a short time and will fit well into our team," added Norbert Haug, vice-president, Mercedes-Benz Motorsport. "We have been convinced of Juan Pablo's great talent since he drove a Mercedes-Benz C-Class touring car in the ITC round at Silverstone in 1996."