MONACO, May 29 - McLaren believe they are closing the performance gap
with Formula One champions Renault despite still being without a win this
season.
Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya finished second behind Renault's Fernando Alonso
in Monaco on Sunday, McLaren's 40th anniversary race, and sounded more confident
than in a long time as he looked ahead to next week's British Grand Prix.
Montoya won at Silverstone last year and, even if Monaco's tight and twisty
streets present a unique challenge, hoped he could compete with Renault again.
"From where we've been in the last few races, it's shown that McLaren and
Mercedes have stepped up their game quite a lot and we're fighting them," he
said of Sunday's glamour race won convincingly by Renault's Fernando Alonso.
"Now the important thing is to try and translate this into the next few
races."
"I think we've improved our pace, I think we're closing up a little bit to
Renault," added the Colombian. "They're still a little bit quicker than us on
normal circuits but we're definitely heading in the right direction."
Montoya's team mate Kimi Raikkonen was second for much of Sunday's race, and
believed he had the strategy to win, until a heat shield caught fire and forced
his retirement.
VERY COMPETITIVE
The Finn, who was rarely more than a second off Alonso's pace, agreed that
the team had made progress, as did his boss Ron Dennis.
"At least we were very competitive and our target is to maintain the momentum
into Silverstone," said Dennis.
Leaders Renault are 41 points clear of third placed McLaren in the
constructors' standings after seven races, with world champion Alonso -- a
McLaren driver next year -- having won 64 out of a possible 70 points so far.
The Spaniard has a stranglehold on the championship, 21 points clear of
Michael Schumacher and 37 ahead of third-placed Raikkonen.
