Monteiro confident of retaining Spyker seat.

Contrary to rumours in recent days, Tiago Monteiro insists he is still expecting to retain his seat at the newly dubbed Spyker MF1 for next season, the Portuguese driver claiming the team are eager to maintain some familiarity amidst plenty of upheaval.

With most seats on the F1 grid for 2007 all but decided, Spyker MF1 has yet to announce their line-up for next season in light of the change of ownership that saw the team bought out by the Dutch manufacturer with immediate effect ahead of the Italian Grand Prix.

Nonetheless, current driver Christijan Albers is all but certain to continue with the team thanks to Dutch origins that make him an obvious candidate, while several drivers have instead been linked to Monteiro's position in the team, not least Red Bull refugee Christian Klien and impressive test driver Adrian Sutil.

Nonetheless, Monteiro told Crash.net that he is confident he will start his third season in Formula One with Spyker, while he also admitted the team are likely to adopt just a single test driver next year, having been criticised for using three different drivers over the season.

"For the last few weeks, we have been talking to both Alex Shnaider and the new consortium of investors," Monteiro said. "I could not be in a position where I am negotiating for this year and then suddenly another person owns the team and we have to start all over again, so my management began talking to both of them and both of them have the same feeling for next year.

"Lately, we have been talking more with Michiel Mol and Spyker and they have been pretty clear they want to keep the driver line-up the same and get one single test driver."

Indeed, while Monteiro, who famously took a podium at the 2005 United States Grand Prix, has yet to score a point this season, he admitted he was excited about the prospects for the future with the backing Spyker, not least because he claims it is here where is feels most likely to continue racing in Formula One.

"There are not many possibilities of a race seat," he continued. "I always say that my short-term conditions are to race, because I want to keep on racing, so the best opportunity for that is with Spyker.

"From what I have seen of Spyker and Michiel Mol, I am really excited by this new adventure because I know that things are going to change and things are going to get better very quickly with the new arrival of Mike Gascoyne and a new engine manufacturer. I really want to be part of it."