Rumours circulating about Ferrari's interest in Juan Pablo Montoya were duly denied by both sides, but that doesn't mean they don't make sense. Roger Horton explains why Ferrari should want Montoya, and why Montoya should not go there. Not yet, anyway

Reports that Ferrari had made an approach to secure the services of Juan Pablo Montoya for the 2003 season and beyond were interesting, and not entirely unexpected. There was always a big question mark over whether the reports were true, however, and not just another piece of gossip leaked in the endless game of chess that is the Formula One driver market.

Now Ferrari's sporting director Jean Todt denies that his team has ever been in contact with Montoya regarding a seat with his Maranello based outfit, and his denial effectively killed off the story, at least for a while.

A case could certainly have been made that the move would have eventually made sense for both parties. Ferrari is currently the best team, and Montoya has shown that he has the potential to win many races, provided he is driving the right equipment. So a marriage at some time in the future would be entirely plausible for both of them.

Timing, though, was always the problem. Michael Schumacher has made Ferrari his personal fiefdom, and it is highly unlikely he would ever have agreed to his control over the team being diluted. For Montoya, the idea of playing second fiddle for two years to another driver would have been a total anathema - Schumacher, of course, being contracted to Ferrari until the end of 2004.

It is not a case of Montoya needing to find another seat. His current team Williams does have an option on him for next year, the last year of their original five-year deal. And everyone can see that the BMW-Williams-Michelin combination is going to win races, so why would he even think of leaving?

Montoya's problem is money, or rather the lack of it. The Colombian has always said that he took a pay cut to move to F1, and if reports that his salary at Williams is just $1.5 million are correct, that cut would have been considerable. His old boss Chip Ganassi paid him more than that in his second year in CART, and offered him much more to stay on with him and not to go back to Williams.

Montoya, though, always had his heart set on Formula One. He took Frank Williams's offer and has made his mark. Now, like a good number of Williams drivers before him, he is looking to get his team boss to part with a sizable chunk of cash to pay him what he is worth, given his performances and potential.

That won't be easy. Frank Williams has never been in love with the idea of paying his drivers lots of money. To make Montoya's task even harder, his teammate Ralf Schumacher - or more correctly, Ralf's manager Willi Weber - has already managed to extract some $24 million from Williams to extend his current contract out by two years until the end of 2004.

The amount paid to Ralf and its timing, just prior to the European Grand Prix, surprised many in the paddock, because the original agreement still had some eighteen months to run. Why the rush some wanted to know? The official line was that they had evaluated all the drivers available to them and decided that Ralf was their best long-term option. "We didn't want to wait until mid way through next season and then find out he had signed for another team," remarked team boss Patrick Head at the time.

Given Ralf's form at the time - he had just won the Canadian Grand Prix in perhaps the best drive of his life - it seemed that despite perhaps paying a bit over the odds, Williams had secured the services of the only driver who could perhaps mount a serious title challenge to Michael Schumacher and Ferrari.

Times, of course, have changed. Ralf Schumacher's form faded and Weber has admitted that Frank Williams now probably regrets doing the original deal. This is hardly surprising. There has yet to be a Formula One driver born (in this modern age) that will willingly accept being paid just a fraction of his teammate's salary whilst he is out-driving him on the track, and Montoya is no different. The Williams team now has an unsustainable differential between the amounts paid to their respective drivers and something will have to give.

So what realistically are Montoya's options, and would he have seriously considered going to Ferrari as number two to Michael Schumacher for two seasons before taking over as the undisputed number one in 2005 when Schumacher is expected to retire?

Never, is the simple answer to that question. There isn't enough money even in Ferrari's deep pockets to buy out the burning racing instincts of Juan Pablo Montoya. What is to stop Montoya extending his contract with Williams until the end of 2004, when he would then be free to join Ferrari on his own terms?

Montoya is, after all, a racing driver in the Ayrton Senna mould, and can anyone seriously believe that Senna would ever have accepted a big paycheck in return for deferring to another driver? Obviously not, and Montoya is no different.

Fortunately, time is on Montoya's side. It will be at least mid-season before options have to be taken up and deals closed for next year. The Colombian has at least seven or eight races to build a case that he is the world's new number one driver. Nothing strengthens a driver's negotiating position like success on the track, and Montoya and his management team know it.

If Montoya can start out this season where he left off at the end of last, he could make Ralf's life a total misery. Ralf Schumacher's driving has always blossomed when he has control over his teammate. If he is constantly shaded, his confidence fades and the mistakes start. Without question a fired up Montoya will be the sternest test to date of Ralf's mental equilibrium.

By mid-season, even Frank Williams, who has shown in the past to be notoriously impervious to pressure from drivers trying to extract money from him, might well be convinced that he needs Montoya more than he needs Ralf, and he will be moved to take steps to remedy the situation.

He will need to play his cards carefully, however. Frank Williams has shown in the past that he is extremely sensitive to the way contract negotiations are handled. Even now, if Williams believes that this whole story was leaked primarily as a ploy to strengthen Montoya's hand and enhance his value, it could be counter productive.

Montoya and Ferrari. It was a nice idea, and still might happen one day, but not - one suspects - until a certain four times World Champion has left the scene.