There is little doubt Juan Pablo Montoya is one of the biggest stars to emerge in Formula One recently. His qualifying performance this year has been mesmerizing; his battles with Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello are fierce. But the Colombian offers value for money even when he's not in a race car: whether he's toying around with long time buddy Barrichello or facing the press - Montoya is a breath of fresh air in the F1 paddock. Atlas F1's Gary Emmerson met with Juan Pablo only two hours after his arguably best qualifying lap in Formula One

Juan Pablo Montoya has freshened up Formula One with brash and bold attitude on track. To him, his performance on the 17 circuits is the only thing that matters, but if you take a look deeper into the mind of the Colombian you will be as a fascinated by his off-track attitude as much as his no-nonsense driving.

The 26-year-old has been a like a breath of fresh air to a sport descending into a tedious and tiresome era. While his fellow drivers hide behind their Public Relations officers and team officials, Montoya has brought accessibility and humanity back into the Formula One paddock.

Last year, his first in Formula One, his forthright comments and his up-front honesty made more headlines than his driving abilities. But this season he has proven himself on-track with consistency in races, only to be let down by his equipment too many times for him to strengthen his second place in the Championship.

The key to his year, however, has come with a string of stunning qualifying performances as he out-paced Ferrari rivals Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello as well as his own Williams-BMW teammate Ralf Schumacher to pole position in every one of the last four races.

His fourth successive qualifying top spot - and his fifth of the season - arrived at Silverstone last weekend, when everything seemed set against him, following a Ferrari domination throughout the practice sessions. His astonishing last-gasp lap, as is becoming his trademark, did more to prove that he is king of the single-lap dash.

Smiling with his usual ebullient confidence and fiddling with his new mobile phone as he slouches in a chair to face an eager throng of reporters in the Williams-BMW motorhome, the cool Columbian's mood seems more in keeping with a man who has just dropped into the bar after relaxing in the sunshine by a pool rather than a racer who, just two hours earlier, had out-paced the world's best in a high-pressure sporting arena.

Q: Was that your best lap in Formula One?

Montoya: "It was a really good lap, especially with the conditions. Put it this way - it would probably be the best recovery I have done. For me, just going quicker than the previous lap was good enough for me because I was trying to catch Ralf, so anything better than what I did before would have worked."

Q: How did you find so much time in that sector? It is almost as if you missed a corner out.

Montoya: "It's really amazing. The amazing thing is that you are pushing so hard and you know you are right on the edge and every corner like that makes a huge difference."

Q. You were so excited when you got out of the car. Did it feel better than at the Nurburgring?

Montoya: "Put it this way, I was happy to be within a second of Ferrari. The team said we could get up to a 19.5 if we were really positive and then Michael went and did a 19.4 with his first lap and was like ha, ha, ha. To be honest, to be on pole ahead of the Ferraris is a surprise."

After a tricky start to life in Formula One last year, which saw him finish just two races in the first half of his debut season, he recovered to win the emotional Italian Grand Prix at Monza, held just after the September 11th terrorist attack on New York, and ended the season with 31 points.

This year he had already scored 27 points thanks to six top-six finishes in the opening six races, but after qualifying on pole in Monaco, Canada and at the Nurburgring and retiring in all three, Montoya reveals with his trademark wide grin, his race engineer had insisted before the crucial qualifying session at Silverstone that it was time to opt for different tactics.

The only problem was, Montoya failed to listen.

Q. Apparently your engineer said something really disgusting to you at the end of your run...

Montoya: "After qualifying my engineer came on the radio and said 'this is getting boring'. Before the qualifying it was quite funny because my mechanics said 'we don't want to get pole here' and I said 'why not' and he said 'because we want to change our luck, we don't want pole because if you are third we can finish the race'. I told him 'don't worry, there is no chance we are going to get it'. I did apologise to him afterwards."

Montoya pauses as he collects his thoughts, then decides there is something he should add...

Montoya: "You get a lot more excited because it was the last lap and you used it and get out of the car. Normally in qualifying when you do it earlier you get into the garage and you are still trying to think where you could improve. You get a lot more excited on the last run. All the time when you get it on the last lap is really good."

That one sensational lap time at Silverstone left Montoya's Ferrari rivals shocked. They had been convinced that Montoya's run at the head of the grid would end in Britain and equally cheeky South American driver Rubens Barrichello, who looked set to score his third top spot of the season after dominating the session, had a little word in his friend's ear after the session.

Q. What did Rubens say to you afterwards? It seemed that you were winding him up.

Montoya:: "I can't really say the word that Rubens said to me. He said like... 'bastard, you fucking bastard'."

Q. Michael also said something as well, or did he mean that one?

Montoya laughs. "Michael was alright about it but I think Michael was probably more pissed off about Rubens out-qualifying him again. It is good. Like I said before, Michael is not unbeatable and Rubens is doing it. I think it is great for Rubens."

Montoya's support for his friend Barrichello is natural. To say the brash Colombian is not the biggest Schumacher fan in the world is an understatement and nothing would give him greater pleasure than to see his Continental buddy take the lead at Ferrari.

Montoya would love to fight with Barrichello for victory at every Grand Prix without the interference of Schumacher, in the same way that his father tackled the Brazilian on the karting tracks of South America during the Ferrari driver's younger days.

The pair have known each other since then, and they act like the children they once were when they get together off the track, constantly jibing and poking fun at each other. When they get in the 'classroom' to face FIA officials at drivers' briefings they truly read the riot act.

Q. You said in the past that you don't really have any friends in Formula One, is this a change?

Montoya: "Nah. Rubens, we were always kind of... if you tape the drivers' briefing you wouldn't believe how much little kid things we do. It is pretty good fun."

Q. Like spraying water at each other in the press conference?

Montoya: "Exactly."

Q. When did it start?

Montoya: "I've known Rubens from years ago. He raced against my dad when he was like 15 in the South American Kart Championship in Colombia. He actually used to kick my ass as well. He was quick."

Q: So, does it mean anything to have an all South American front row?

Montoya shakes his head. "It is good that Rubens is beside me on the grid because we are quite good friends," he says eventually. "Rubens is good because we race hard but we respect each other. I know that if I put the car beside Rubens he is not going to take me off."

In Championship terms, with Schumacher hovering on the brink of a record-equalling fifth world title, Montoya is still getting his 'ass kicked', this time by a European with a better race car.

But on the qualifying stage, the Colombian has more than proven that the Williams and its Michelin tyres can be taken right to the limit to create a single-lap performance that has the beating of his German rival. And he has done it again, and again, and again, and again.

Q. Do days like these make up for the disappointment of not winning a race, because it is winning races that you are all about?

Montoya: "You always want to win races, but putting you car on pole here at Silverstone in Formula One is not an easy target. Half of the races this year I have been on pole so it is not that bad."