Irvine tips Montoya.

Eddie Irvine has added his voice to those backing Juan Pablo Montoya to be Michael Schumacher's main opposition next season.

Speaking through his regular column in Britain's Sun newspaper, Irvine claimed that Montoya has all the hallmarks of his former Ferrari team-mate Schumacher, and insisted that this would be good enough to take the fight to the German - provided Williams built a winning car for 2002.

"Montoya came into Formula One with a tough-guy reputation and quickly laid down his marker, just like Schumacher did when he entered the sport and took the fight to Ayrton Senna," Irvine explained.

The Irishman went on to quantify his comments by pointing out that Schumacher was coming towards the end of his career and would not commit as much now that he has a family to look out for.

"The younger guy will always have a psychological advantage because he has less to lose," he said, "Michael has been in the sport a long time, and will not want to take the same sort of risks that he used to. As you get older, you also get more cautious. That is why Montoya, providing Williams builds him a good car, should become one of Schumacher's main challengers next season - he has shown that he is certainly not one to be messed with."

Montoya and Schumacher had a number of run-ins during the Colombian's maiden season in F1, with brushes in Brazil and Austria notable among them. It took until the Italian GP last month for the former CART champion to open his account in grands prix, however, and Irvine is convinced that Schumacher will just keep the advantage in 2002.

"While there should be some epic battles between them, I still feel that Michael has the experience and skill to maintain the upper hand," he said.