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Juan Pablo Montoya

Juan Pablo Montoya
  • Surname
    Montoya Roldán
  • First name
    Juan Pablo
  • Date of birth
    20.09.1975

This Colombian, who was born in Bogotà, started his motorsport career in 1981 in karting. Ten years later, he became junior world champion in this discipline and then switched to formula racing. Via Formula Renault in his home country and the Barber Saab Pro Series, a brand formula in the USA, he arrived in Great Britain in 1995, where he competed in Formula Vauxhall and finished third overall at the end of the season.

The following year he placed fifth in the final standings of the British Formula 3 Championship. He also took a detour into the International Touring Car Championship (ITC), but failed to bring his AMG-Mercedes C-Class DTM to the finish line in its only outing at Silverstone.

In 1997 and 1998, Montoya was highly successful in the International Formula 3000 Championship, where he took the title one season later after finishing second in his debut year. This success earned him a permanent cockpit in the North American CART series the following year. There, he started for Chip Ganassi Racing and won the championship straight away after seven race wins and just as many pole positions as the youngest champion to date.

After a disappointing 2000 season, he turned his back on the CART series and moved to Formula 1 with Team BMW Williams. Here, too, he was on a par with the established stars right from the start, but in his debut year, despite one victory and three second places, he only finished sixth in the drivers' standings because he retired early from 11 Grand Prix races.

After two third-place finishes in the 2002 and 2003 Drivers' World Championships and a fifth-place finish in 2004, he got a place with Team McLaren-Mercedes in 2005, where he finished fourth in the final standings in his MP4-20 after three Grand Prix wins and other top finishes. However, in view of the successes of his team-mate Kimi Räikkönen, who was runner-up with seven wins and almost double the number of points, the Colombian was not satisfied with his role in the team.

The following year, after 10 races and an overall situation that he considered to have no prospects, he pulled the emergency brake and said goodbye, heading for the USA, where he found a new field of activity in the highly remunerated NASCAR series from the end of 2006 until 2013. From 2014 to 2016, he made a comeback in formula racing and participated in the IndyCar Series. Montoya's best result here was second place overall in the 2015 season.

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