FORMULA 1: Juan Pablo Montoya has denied he will be racing with McLaren-Mercedes next season, insisting he will remain with Williams despite suggestions the Colombian is unhappy with his salary at the BMW-powered team. From Justin Hynes at Hockenheim

While Montoya's team-mate, Ralf Schumacher, seems on the verge of signing a new contract with Williams, believed to be worth anything up to £10 million per season, Montoya is believed to earn less than half the German's figure and to have become increasingly dissatisfied.

Yesterday though, Montoya denied he would be moving to McLaren for 2004.

"These rumours always come up at this time of year," he said. "I have a contract with Williams until the end of 2004 and we'll see what happens then."

However, asked to confirm there is no truth to the rumours, Montoya smiled and said: "No, not really."

Still, despite the expectation that at Hockenheim tomorrow, as has become tradition with the team, McLaren will announce that they will continue with a partnership of David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen next season, links between Montoya and the Woking-based team persist, with a 2005 sign-on date expected.

The Colombian is believed to have been offered a figure of £8.5 million per season by McLaren boss Ron Dennis, a significant increase on the suggested terms of his Williams contract. Such a cash incentive would be hard to resist.

The swap to the Mercedes-powered outfit would entail no loss in status or championship prospects either, and while Coulthard, the man Montoya would replace, will race for the Silver Arrows next year, it is understood it will be a single-year deal and he will make way for new talent at the close of next season.

Mercedes spokesman Nobert Haug fuelled the speculation further yesterday by saying that while the team is likely to pursue continuity for 2004, he would offer no comment on the following year, aside from simply stating that McLaren Mercedes were not in the habit of breaking contracts such as Montoya's.

"That's definitely the plan," he said when asked if McLaren would pursue consistency for next season, "but a couple of things need to be sorted out. I personally do not expect surprises for next year.

"Whatever you read about us offering however many millions to other teams to get their drivers, forget it," he added. "It is not correct to say that, and nothing like that is going on. We are not the guys to be in breach of contract and stuff like that, that is just not right."

Adding to the speculation surrounding Montoya's future is a widespread belief that Williams are less than pleased with Montoya, who, midway through his third season with the team, has scored just two grand prix wins, and those coming 25 races apart, at Monza in 2001 and Monaco this year.

Montoya arrived on the back of a US CART title win in 1999, an Indianapolis 500 win in 2000 and a tsunami of hype as the next big thing, and Williams, who nurtured the 27-year-old throughout his early triumphs, are believed to be dismayed that their faith has not been rewarded.

Meanwhile, the possibility of Jordan using Mercedes engines next year has been thrown into doubt with the engine supplier believed to be unwilling to become involved with any team that must first divorce itself from existing power supply contracts. Jordan has two years to run on its contract with Ford Cosworth, and Mercedes may be unwilling to suffer the contractual wrangling needed to clear the way for Jordan to switch to the Stuttgart company's power.

Mercedes spokesman Haug yesterday said no deal as a supplier had yet been done. "I do not know where these rumours come from," he said. "Yes, we are prepared to offer a customer engine, but we have been talking to more than one team."