24 hours after he stormed out of a press conference which had been infiltrated by a couple of Australian comedians, WilliamsF1 star Juan Pablo Montoya remains unrepentant.

Attending a press conference on Thursday, the feisty Colombian explained the reason for his walk out.

"They probably wanted to play a joke on me and it didn't work as planned," he said. The sponsors (Allianz) can't really say anything because they were the guys who let them in.

Montoya was incensed when the Antipodean duo - not Rob and Crompo - asked a number of nonsensical questions, then proceeded to make and receive calls on their mobiles. It's now known that officials tried to prevent Juan Pablo from leaving, which resulted in a minor altercation.

Reports that the sponsors were heard to cry "you broke-a your contract, you broke-a your contract," remain unconfirmed.

"When you are doing a day for a sponsor you've got to be very professional in what you're doing," explained Juan Pablo. "And when it's not handled professionally, I don't think you've got to be there. If you're in a place where you are joking and having fun, it's all right. But I didn't find it funny, a guy asking me if I wanted to play golf with his grandmother or whatever."

Comments that his behaviour might reflect badly on the sport and prohibit potential sponsors were brushed aside.

"I don't care to be honest," said Montoya. "I talked to Frank, and he is okay with it. He said to me 'I'm glad you behaved in a good way, it's a shame we couldn't complete the day'.

"There was some friction," he admitted, "but it wasn't in front of anybody. It was a closed room. We had a discussion about it and I told them why I was leaving."

According to Reuters, Montoya's new boss for 2005, Ron Dennis, was less than impressed. The Englishman regards his sponsors, and the treatment of them, as sacrosanct. However, since the row involved sponsors of WilliamsF1, a rival, he was fairly understanding.

"Juan is a driver for the Williams team," he said, "why would I be concerned about that?. In a situation like that, an event that is being managed by either a sponsor or a team, the team should have stepped in and stopped what was basically a publicity-seeking objective of two Australian comedians.

"Though putting aside whether Juan Pablo's reaction was the right one or not, it shouldn't have ever happened," he admitted.

Juan Pablo should note that Ron isn't impressed by people who get inebriated and fall off yachts either.