Juan Pablo Montoya

Juan Pablo Montoya
Car number	4
Team	McLaren-Mercedes
Races	81
Championships	0
Wins	7
Podiums	27
Poles	12
Fastest laps	12
First race	2001 Australian Grand Prix
First win	2001 Italian Grand Prix
Last season	2005
Last position	4th (60 pts)

Juan Pablo Montoya Roldán (born September 20, 1975) is a Colombian Formula One motor racing driver. He was born in Bogotá where he was taught by his father Pablo, an architect and motorsport enthusiast, the secrets of karting becoming with the time in not only the best Colombian driver of all time but in one of the most charismatic stars in the motorsports world wide as he has enjoyed great success particularly in top Open-wheel racing series. His curriculum features one of the most impressive lists of achievements a driver could possess, having to his credit an International F3000 title, a world title in the CART FedEx Championship Series, and victories in the Indianapolis 500 and Monaco Grand Prix.

Early career

Montoya began racing karts in 1981 at the young age of six, and by age nine he won the Children's National Kart Championship. In 1986, he won the junior division of the National Championship. For the next three years, he won many local and national titles in the Kart Komet Division. Montoya capped off his karting career by winning the Kart Junior Championships in 1990 and 1991.

Montoya moved to the Copa Formula Renault Series in 1992. The same year, he also participated in a U.S. series operated by Skip Barber. 1993 saw Montoya switch to the Swift GTI Championship, a series he dominated by winning seven of eight races. The following year, 1994, was a very busy year for the 19-year-old Colombian, as it saw him race in three separate series: the Sudam 125 Karting, USA Barber Saab, and Formula N in Mexico (a series in which he won the title). As his success continued year after year, Montoya came to be known for his uncanny ability to win pole positions (as well as races), in some cases taking 80% of a season's poles. For the next three years, Montoya raced in various divisions, continually progressing upward. He raced in the 1995 British Formula Vauxhall Championship, and he won the 1996 British Formula 3 crown, as well as taking part in events in Zandvoort, Netherlands and at Silverstone.

Entry into top Open-Wheel Series

As a youngster Juan Pablo Montoya spent his days as a resident of Austria struggling to gather money for his basic expenditures, at this stage of his life he recalls of having no money for even a public transport instead he used skids to go from one place to another. Retirement from the motorsport activity was very likely but a call to take part in the 1997's Formula 3000 season was in fact the blessing he was praying for as not only he managed to perform at a high level in his rookie season but the year later he took the title in which Nick Heidfeld was his main competitor. Montoya's manager brought Montoya to the attention of the Williams F1 team, whom had already noticed the potential of this driver, particularly Frank Williams who signed him to a multi-year testing contract, duties he accomplished alongside his performances for the 1998's season of Formula 3000.

CART career

After having lost the Renault engines for the 1998 Formula One season the Williams team were about to face yet another season without a top engine in 1999, in the hope of attracting more investors in the bad performing team Sir Frank Williams planned a switch with Chip Ganassi, owner of the most successful CART team, in which the all conquering in America Alessandro Zanardi seen his return to Formula One and Montoya would take his place in the competitive American-based series.

While Zanardi had a miserable year in F1, Montoya, having at his disposal Honda power and a great Reynard chassis, took by storm the American motorsport scene by showing one of the most memorable performances in the series, in fact conquering the 1999 title in his rookie year, something that just had been accomplished by a former Formula One Champion, Nigel Mansell.

The season that crowned him as the youngest ever CART FedEx Championship Series Champion, at the age of 24, was very disputed specially with Dario Franchitti with whom he fought until the final race. they both finished with equal number of points but having won 7 races decided the title in favor of the Colombian. He managed to be considered the fastest driver in a series which lacked electronic aids as traction control, adaptive suspension or automatic gearboxes, winning pole positions and setting fast laps as well as being the center of controversy for his aggressive style of driving, discussions arouse specially with Michael Andretti and his team.

Such tremendous performance from the young rookie called into the attention of Williams F1 with whom he still had an active contract, in fact Montoya was asked to return to Europe but he decided to stay for one more year.

In 2000 the Ganassi team switched to the unreliable Toyota engines and they swapped off chassis as well building a package strong for ovals and high speed venues but not for permanent and street circuits. However Montoya managed to lead more laps than anyone else and taking the maiden victory for a Toyota engine in the series. He also was the most popular driver but in a season where he failed to finish more than 60% of races he was out of battle for top honors.

In a merchandising oriented decision, the Ganassi team competed in the prestigious Indianapolis 500 race. Media and drivers were critical of the way Juan Pablo approached the Brickyard, many local IRL drivers labeled him as crazy and predicted an early retirement from the race. In fact was the very opposite as the Colombian star claimed top honors at the end of the 500 Mile race in fact making it seem an easy victory, again equaling a record previously set by a Formula One World Champion, Graham Hill, and becoming the first Colombian to accomplish such a goal as Roberto José Guerrero had failed by finishing runner up twice.

Entry into F1

In the weekend of the 2000 Indianapolis 500 it was announced his entry as a regular race driver for the BMW Williams F1 Team partnering Ralf Schumacher by signing a two year deal. The adaptation process took place in the winter testing season and he entered the world championship with great expectation as the boring on-pit battles between Mclaren Mercedes and Ferrari had made viewing figures drop.

Montoya qualifying in the 2005 US GP.

Formula 1 career

Juan Pablo Montoya, after 5 full seasons, is without doubt one the biggest stars in the sport. He has however failed to take it by storm as the illusion of securing a World Drivers Championship has gradually faded.

Although he has revitalized the boring Formula One with his brilliant overtaking maneuvers — something that is almost impossible at the light of the current formula — he has seen, in several stages of his F1 career, being outperformed by his team mates mainly due to the fact that his driving style is too characteristic of the 80's Formula One era, in this matter it is difficult to build a car that suits him well as engineers and aerodynamicists have adapted their work to build chassis that are more appropriate to a more fine and soft, and perhaps less live, driving style of the likes of Kimi Räikkönen.

2001

Montoya made his Formula One debut for the BMW-powered Williams team on March 4, Australian Grand Prix. Less than a month later, he shocked Michael Schumacher — and the F1 world — in Brazil by overtaking the World Champion on a daring move. Montoya was on course to win the race when a backmarker collided into him claiming he didn't know who the race leader was. In his first season in F1 Montoya established himself as a favorite with fans and commentators as a natural racer. Although Williams struggled with reliability that year, Montoya nevertheless won three pole positions, stood on several podiums, and claimed his maiden F1 victory at the 2001 Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

2002

Montoya was the best of the rest as Ferrari drivers let no other available place than third. Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello dominated the season by winning 15 of 17 races. He continued to be the sole driver to be able to challenge on track Michael Schumacher but the inferiority of his package didn't allow him to claim any victory. Al least during qualifying the BMW WilliamsF1 FW24 had a special configuration that allowed tires to traction harder, with this weapon he was slightly behind the Ferrari's and in some circumstances even ahead, thus he was able to win a breathtaking seven pole positions that year, usually in the very last seconds of the session. He managed to set the fastest ever lap for a Grand Prix during the qualifying session of the 2002 Italian Grand Prix in Monza.

2003

With a chassis finally being built by the team specifically for Montoya's driving style, the machine needed time to be tweaked out as oversteering problems were still present often deriving in 360º spins in front of the crowd in addition to the engine reliability problems from BMW.

From the Monaco Grand Prix the FW25 proved to be the class of the field, allowing him to take victory at Circuit de Monaco from Kimi Räikkönen. Although this newly revamped design had proven successful, Williams still were not a perfect team often making mistakes and failing to find a correct setup which unfairly made Montoya gain the label of possesor of a poor know-how in the art of setting up a F1 car. As an addition, Ralf Schumacher had a better relationship within the team specially with the sporting director which resulted in several in-race advantages for the German. Bad luck for rivals and excellent on-track performances from the Colombian led to making him a Title contender, especially so after key victory at the German Grand Prix.

Williams, however, was unable to keep the pace with the newest improvements from Ferrari, and after failing to claim further victories and with the penalization at the United States Grand Prix where he collided with Barrichello, his chances were over in this, the last race he finished during the year.

2004

It was a disappointing year for Montoya, as he struggled with a radically new front nose assembly and senior staff of the Williams team, not too keen on working with a driver that had already signed to drive with the competition for 2005. After early season promise faded, the Colombian was frequently left struggling to score points, but everything came together for him at the very last race for Williams when he won the 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix, his fourth career victory in Formula One. Because the race at Interlagos marked Montoya's last race with Williams, he went out on a high note with the team.

2005

For some drivers the 2005 formula 1 season was full of stories, in the case of Montoya it was a story of early hopes, of bad luck, of brilliant moments, as well as of mistakes. He started driving for the McLaren team. Having driven for Williams for 4 full seasons he found the McLaren Mercedes racer a little bit too unpredictable, often claiming it felt like the steering wheel was not "attached" to the rear end of the car.

After being critized in his previous years by his lack of fitness Montoya began a training program oriented directly by McLaren personnel but all the effort was lost when, after just the second Grand Prix in Malaysia, he injured his shoulder while in Spain. The official reason given to media was that he had injured himself whilst playing tennis. However rumors stated that it was a motorcycle accident the real cause. After missing two Grand prix he made an early return while not completely healed, in fact he was often seen with his arm almost motionless for the remaining 5 Grand Prix even while in the paddock for the British GP.

More bad luck continued as in practice for the Monaco Grand Prix Montoya was penalized to start from the back by race stewards for brake-testing his former Williams team mate causing a 4 car collision. At the Canadian Grand Prix Montoya was on course for a win, but mistakes made by his team lead to a bad handling of the situation as he was disqualified after being sent out under red light in the pit lane. After a non-start at the US Grand Prix Montoya was on track for a possible win at Magny-Cours when his suspension failed. Whilst in the lead, retirement from Hungarian GP followed due to a broken driveshaft, having his team mate had a similar failure 8 GP before shows the differences in suspension geometry between both McLaren's as the torsional forces are carried out in different manner.

Having even more oversteering problems than what he had in Williams including several on practice spins, also in his return race in Spain and most notoriously while in the qualification for the German Grand Prix where he spun off in the very last corner, but made up for it by climbing from 20th to 8th after the first two corners eventually finishing in respectable 2nd.

Montoya rewrote his fame in the F1 paddock, as he constantly identified the causes that were making the car unpredictable, it was often related to the Geometry of the Suspension as well as with aerodynamics, it is said that he helped the team to improve a lot the car extending the understanding of it which resulted in his benefit and even of his team mate.

He had to learn how to cope with a very nervous and oversteery car, in these conditions and after bad luck for his team mate, he scored his first victory for McLaren Mercedes in the British GP and in same conditions in Monza.

For some part of the season the major concerns were the outgoing problems with backmarkers and the Team Orders. Both Tiago Monteiro and Antônio Pizzonia collided into him, pretty much like Jos Verstappen in 2001, and Jacques Villeneuve forced him off the track in one of the final races of the year. All these issues lead for the not completion of his main task for the team, to stop Fernando Alonso to further get away in the standings from his team mate. As for Team Orders they were evident in Canada, where Kimi Räikkönen was not allowed to battle him, neither they allow Montoya to pit first, and in Spa he was forced to release and let Raikkonen to catch him.

At the final stages of the season it was clear Montoya finally adapted to the car and the car was adapted to him, the driver often portraits that the effort done by the McLaren Mercedes Team in order to tune the car to his driving style was beyond anything his previous team did. Finally it all worked well at the Brazilian GP, his home race, where by the first time in the season the two McLaren Drivers were allowed to race with no restrictions until the final pit stop then bringing the first 1-2 Result for McLaren in years with Montoya on top and the newly crowned world champion Fernando Alonso in third. But after that point Montoya was unable to further show his worth as for the final two races race incidents and more bad luck prevented him to finish.

Social Labors

Together with his wife Conny Freydell, a native of Medellín, Colombia, Montoya founded the Formula Smiles Foundation as part of his duties of United Nations Goodwill Ambassador. The foundation's main aim is to help children in popular neighborhoods by building or adequating facilities and infrastructure for the practice of sports. Montoya organizes several events for the foundation, such as Échele Cabeza al casco de Juan Pablo Montoya - a helmet paint competition where children can design a new pattern for Montoya racing helmet, and where the winning design is wore in the Brazilian Grand Prix of every year. The most famous event being held under the charity foundation purposes is the Race of Stars, a kart race disputed by international stars of the motorsport scene. The invited drivers, mainly from Formula One and IRL, attend in the hopes of raising money for children in poor neighborhoods, racing in an adequated street course in the historical center of the city of Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, which features high levels of humidity and temperature, making it a tough driving exercise.

Formula 1 results

Championship qualifications

Juan Pablo Montoya driving for the Williams Formula One team in early 2004

• 2001: 6th, 31 points, 1 win, 3 poles (Williams)
• 2002: 3rd, 50 points, 0 wins, 7 poles (Williams)
• 2003: 3rd, 82 points, 2 wins, 1 pole (Williams)
• 2004: 5th, 58 points, 1 win, 0 poles (Williams)
• 2005: 4th, 60 points, 3 wins, 1 pole (McLaren)

Podiums and wins

• 2001:
  • Spain 2nd
  • Europe 2nd
  • Italy 1st
  • Japan 2nd
• 2002:
  • Australia 2nd
  • Malaysia 2nd
  • Spain 2nd
  • Austria 3rd
  • Britain 3rd
  • Germany 2nd
  • Belgium 3rd
• 2003:
  • Australia 2nd
  • Monaco 1st
  • Canada 3rd
  • Europe 2nd
  • France 2nd
  • Britain 2nd
  • Germany 1st
  • Hungary 3rd
  • Italy 2nd
• 2004:
  • Malaysia 2nd
  • Imola 3rd
  • Brazil 1st
• 2005:
  • Britain 1st
  • Germany 2nd
  • Turkey 3rd
  • Italy 1st
  • Brazil 1st

Complete F1 results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Team	WDC	Points
2001	Williams	AUS Ret	MYS Ret	BRA Ret	SMR Ret	ESP 2	AUT Ret	MON Ret	CAN Ret	EUR 2	FRA Ret	GBR 4	GER Ret	HUN 8	BEL Ret	ITA 1	USA Ret	JPN 2			Williams	6th	31
2002	Williams	AUS 2	MYS 2	BRA 5	SMR 4	ESP 2	AUT 3	MON Ret	CAN Ret	EUR Ret	GBR 3	FRA 4	GER 2	HUN 11	BEL 3	ITA Ret	USA 4	JPN 4			Williams	3rd	50
2003	Williams	AUS 2	MYS 12	BRA Ret	SMR 7	ESP 4	AUT Ret	MON 1	CAN 3	EUR 2	FRA 2	GBR 2	GER 1	HUN 3	ITA 2	USA 6	JPN Ret				Williams	3rd	82
2004	Williams	AUS 5	MYS 2	BAH 13	SMR 3	ESP Ret	MON 4	EUR 8	CAN DSQ	USA DSQ	FRA 8	GBR 5	GER 5	HUN 4	BEL Ret	ITA 5	CHN 5	JPN 7	BRA 1		Williams	5th	58
2005	McLaren	AUS 6	MYS 4	BAH Inj	SMR Inj	ESP 7	MON 5	EUR 7	CAN DSQ	USA DNS	FRA Ret	GBR 1	GER 2	HUN Ret	TUR 3	ITA 1	BEL 14	BRA 1	JPN Ret	CHN Ret	McLaren	4th	60
2006	McLaren	BAH 5	MYS 4	AUS Ret	SMR 3	EUR Ret	ESP Ret	MON 2	GBR 6	CAN Ret	USA Ret	FRA	GER	HUN	TUR	ITA	CHN	JPN	BRA		McLaren	8th*	26

*Was placed 6th in WDC standings before leaving F1.

External links

• The official site for Juan Pablo Montoya
• Team McLaren official site
• Juan Pablo Montoya Profile and Statistics