On this week #38: Juan Pablo Montoya Roldan
Juan Pablo Montoya Roldan was born in Bogota, Colombia on 20 September 1975. He became one of the grittiest, most versatile and spectacular drivers that Formula 1 has ever seen this century. From a very early age, Juan Pablo was interested in the world of racing, partly because his uncle Diego competed, enjoying a pretty good career in endurance racing including finishing ninth overall in the 1983 Le Mans 24 Hours. Juan Pablo thus made his debut in karting at the age of six, before moving up to single-seaters, where he began to get himself noticed at international level, finishing third in the 1993 Barber Pro Saab Series. The following year, he made the inevitable move to Europe, which has always been the obligatory route to the top for South American drivers.
His life on the old continent got off on the right foot: third in the 1995 British Formula Vauxhall championship, second in Formula 3000 in 1997 before taking the title in that series the following year. His speed and aggressive style on track caught the attention of several observers and quickest off the mark was Frank Williams who took him on as a test driver in 1998, with the aim of promoting him to a race seat. However, there were no vacancies for the next two years, so Montoya, while still on the books at Williams, decided to try his hand racing in America, with incredible success. He took the 1999 CART title and the following year he won the Indianapolis 500 Miles. Now there really was no excuse for him not to be in Formula 1 and in 2001 Sir Frank finally gave him the long-awaited drive alongside Ralf Schumacher.
The Colombian had a relatively short spell in motor racing's blue riband category, but it was thrilling from start to finish. He took part in just 95 Grands Prix, winning seven of them, and he certainly made sure he gave proof of his talent and aggressive driving style. Who could fail to remember his duels with Michael Schumacher? Brazil 2001, Monza 2003 and Imola 2004 are races remembered not so much for who won, but for the great battles between the dominant driver of his age and his rival, seen as something of a rebel, a pretender to the crown. Montoya's overtaking move on Schumacher at Interlagos will never be forgotten by those who witnessed it and there was a belief that the Williams driver would prove to be the Ferrari man's greatest rival in that decade. In fact, Montoya was only really in the running for the title in 2003, when with three rounds remaining, he trailed the German by a single point. But the threat failed to materialise. The following year, the Williams car was less competitive, while Montoya was taken with the idea of changing teams in order to beat his favourite “enemy” Schumacher. He thus teamed up with McLaren, joining forces with Kimi Raikkonen, a team-mate who was silent but deadly.
2005 looked like being his year, as Schumacher and Ferrari were struggling and McLaren seemed very competitive, but into the fray came a third party, Renault and Fernando Alonso. Montoya struggled to settle in with his new team and was only competitive in the later part of the season, when it was clear that the Spaniard's main rival for the title was Raikkonen, whereas Juan Pablo won two races but was never in contention for the crown. 2006 was even worse when, with Adrian Newey no longer in Woking, McLaren lost its way. There were disagreements with the team, two races missed with a mysterious injury and his contract was terminated before the end of the season, by which point Montoya had thrown in the towel and was already thinking about an American comeback and indeed re-crossing the Atlantic revitalised his career.
Montoya became the first non-American to win in NASCAR after which he focused mainly on endurance racing, winning the Daytona 24 Hours three times, in 2007, 2008 and 2013. He also took the 2013 IMSA title, but the highlight of racing in the USA a second time around was another Indianapolis 500 win in 2015, when he also finished second in the IndyCar Series, tied on points with Scott Dixon, the latter taking the crown by virtue of having three wins to Montoya's two.
These days Montoya is once again a frequent visitor to Grand Prix weekends, no longer going wheel to wheel with his rivals, but on hand to support his son Sebastian who his trying to follow in his father's footsteps. So far, that's proving tricky, the best result to date for the Miami-born 19 year old being a third place in the Formula 3 Feature Race at Spa earlier this year, but if he's inherited only half his father's grit and determination, in time, who knows, we could see another Montoya in Formula 1.
