The Williams formula one team were left fuming yesterday when their arch-rivals McLaren announced that they had secured Juan Pablo Montoya's services for the 2005 season.
The Colombian's switch will mark the end of David Coulthard's association with McLaren, nine years at the end of next season. It is expected that the Scot may move to Toyota or Jaguar, where he could replace Mark Webber who is tipped as a replacement for Montoya at Williams.
"We believe that we can manage Montoya and get the very best out of him," said Martin Whitmarsh, the McLaren managing director. "We think we can harness all the passion which makes him such an aggressive and super-fast driver. It will be an exciting challenge to unlock all his potential."
Williams were hoping that the official announcement about Montoya would not be made public yet as they are in the middle of talks with their other driver Ralf Schumacher, whose contract also expires at the end of 2004. He is seeking a rise from US$13m (£7.5m) to US$18m a year.
Knowing that Montoya is out of the equation is expected to strengthen Schumacher's hand in the negotiations, which are being conducted by Willi Weber, the Stuttgart businessman who has masterminded the careers of both Ralf and Michael since before they entered formula one.
Montoya, who was irked by the fact that he was earning only around US$6m at Williams, is believed to have signed a deal which will earn him around US$9.5m in 2005. Michael Schumacher is the highest paid driver of all, at US$25m a year with
Ferrari.
Montoya, who finished third in this year's drivers' world championship - behind Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen - said that he was delighted to be joining McLaren. "The team is consistently a strong world championship contender and has a fantastic heritage," said the 28-year-old.
"To join them is an amazing challenge and an experience which I plan to enjoy fully. However my short-term aim is to concentrate 100% on winning the 2004 world championship."
Montoya's relationship with Williams was never the same after the French grand prix in July when he shouted abuse over the radio to the engineers on the pit wall after mistakenly assuming that they had given Ralf Schumacher preferential treatment over pit stops.
"It will certainly be a bit odd going into next year knowing that one of your drivers has already signed for another team," said Patrick Head, the Williams technical director. "We're obviously having discussions with other people, so we shall see what develops."
Martin Brundle, who manages Coulthard's business career, was sanguine about the situation. "We have known about it for some time," he said. "It is obviously not a great day for David but it is certainly not the end of his career.
"We don't need to look for other opportunities until the middle of next year. We have a contractual position with McLaren in 2004 which we are confident with. A lot can happen over a season."
Williams team fuming after McLaren..... 
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