Juan Pablo Montoya is defending champion of the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, but he doesn't have much hope of repeating that victory Sunday.

With the Ferrari of already-crowned 2002 Formula One champion Michael Schumacher dominating this season with a record 10 wins, it will be hard for Montoya, a former CART champion and Indianapolis 500 winner, to get back to victory lane.

"A year ago, I had my first Formula One win at Monza, but it's looking increasingly difficult for us to achieve the same result this year,'' Montoya said. "At Monza, we probably have one of our best chances to do well, but I think it's going to prove hard to beat Ferrari.''

One thing Montoya certainly could achieve, though, is taking second place in the standings away from Schumacher's teammate, Rubens Barrichello.

"The way things are right now, it feels like third place would be like a win for us in Monza,'' Montoya said. "One thing that is possible, though, is to get ahead of Rubens. It would be really good to take some points away from him.''

The Colombian driver, who has four second-place finishes this season, trails Barrichello by just seven points with three events remaining. They are not the only two battling for the position, though.

Montoya's Williams-BMW teammate, Ralf Schumacher, Michael's younger brother, is just two points behind him, with McLaren driver David Coulthard just seven behind Montoya.

"We need to finish each of the last three races and maybe we can get second in the points,'' Montoya said.