Official Website: Juan Pablo Montoya Official Website
Place of Birth: Bogota, Colombia
Resides: Monaco
Status: Single
Height: 1.68m
Weight: 72kg
Career previous to F1: 1998 FIA International Formula 3000 Champion
1999 CART FedEx Champion
2000 Winner of the Indianapolis 500 at first attempt
Races: 35
Wins: 1 (2.9%)
Podiums: 12 (34.3%)
Pole Positions: 10 (28.6%)
Retirements: 15 (42.9%)
Points Accumulated: 89.000
Debut: 04 Mar 2001
Last Race: 09 Mar 2003
First Win: 16 Sep 2001
Last Win: 16 Sep 2001
First Pole: 29 Jul 2001
Last Pole: 15 Sep 2002
View a complete listing of Juan Pablo Montoya's Formula 1 results
Driver History
Montoya began racing at the age of 5, inspired by his father who
was also a racing driver. Juan-Pablo claimed his first national
karting championship aged just six, and went on to win numerous
Colombian championships over the next decade.
At 17, he moved to compete in the US, as well as racing in the Formula
Renault series in Europe, where he took pole for his first race
and won half of the races in his debut season.
1996 saw Juan Pablo racing in British F3, where he began to really
make a name for himself. He claimed one pole, five fastest laps
and three wins during the season, and began to look towards F3000
for the following year. He managed to not only get a drive, but
became runner-up at the end of his first year in the series. He
went one better in 1998, winning the F3000 championship, as well
as getting his first taste of F1 as test driver for Williams.
Montoya made the switch to CART with Frank Williams’ blessing
in 1999, after losing out on an F1 race seat with the team, who
signed up Alex Zanardi instead.
Driving for Chip Gannasi Racing, Montoya’s debut season put
him in the history books. After winning only his third race, the
Colombian went on to claim six more, winning not only the championship,
but the Rookie of the Year award.
For 2001 Montoya has the drive he’s been waiting for, after
being recalled by Williams. Supremely confident, Juan-Pablo has
won himself a reputation for being arrogant, and it will be interesting
to see if he manages to live up to all the hype.
Montoya has dominated every formula he has tried his hand at so
far, and is clearly an exceptionally talented driver, but many believe
that he will not find the transition to F1 as smooth as he has predicted.
He is certainly under pressure to perform, as Williams try to justify
their decision to drop Jenson Button.
