Montoya expects to be slower than Kimi - initially

New McLaren recruit Juan Pablo Montoya has admitted that he does not expect to have the beating of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen in the early part of the season - but has warned the Finn to watch out as the year goes on.

The pair go head-to-head for the first time in equal machinery on Thursday [13 January], as McLaren gets its first test of 2005 underway at Jerez. Until now, Montoya and Raikkonen have run separately, with test drivers Alex Wurz and Pedro de la Rosa sharing the workload, but, as the intensity of a new season builds up, they will be thrust together in search of information that could make the latest McLaren a world-beater.

Although the 'clash of the titans' is not expected for another couple of days, McLaren will kick-start its 2005 campaign tomorrow [Wednesday 12 January], with various driver combinations in action until at least Sunday.

For former Williams driver Montoya, the PR duties associated with the status of F1 star have already begun this season, and it was after a presscall to reveal him as the new face of sponsor Tag Heuer that the Colombian admitted to Reuters that he only believes he will show Raikkonen the way once he finds his feet at Woking.

"I'm not really expecting to go straight into the first year of races and say I'll be quicker than Kimi," he said, "It's very hard to do it like that. For me, it's new engineers, new mechanics, new car, new everything. It's going to be a lot harder and, if I'm at his pace in the first few races, I'd be very happy, to be honest.

"The racing on the track [between us] is going to be as hard as anybody's. If I had hard races with Kimi when I was in the Williams and he was in the McLaren, you're going to be seeing the same thing but [with us] both in McLarens. I'm going to be trying my best to try to beat him, and he's going to be trying his best to try to beat me, but, at the same time, we need to work together to make sure we beat everybody else."

McLaren struggled to make an impact in the early part of 2004, with Raikkonen and David Coulthard hobbled by an uncompetitive car. The introduction of a 'B-spec' version moved the pair closer to the front, with Raikkonen winning in Belgium and coming close at a couple of other races, but Montoya isn't expecting anything other than a solid start to 2005.

"From the technical point of view, I don't think we can ask for a lot more from the guys we've got," he said, "We've got great guys in the team and Kimi and myself can do great things with the car. [However], I don't think it matters how quick you are in the first few races, as long as you finish. You need to score the points."