(person) by Tristan Mon May 14 2001 at 7:36:03
Born on 20th September 1975, this 25 year old Columbian driver is making his mark in Formula 1 with the British Williams team. He is lucky to have started his F1 career in a team that has a car able to compete with Ferrari and McLaren. Many talented drivers have failed to perform as well as they are able because they are unable to get a drive that lets them compete at the front.

The Williams 2001 car is one of their strongest for many years and has probably the highest horsepower on the grid. However, reliablity problems have dogged the car and Montoya has only finished one race, albeit in 2nd place.

He led the Brazilian race (his 3rd F1 race) comfortably before being taken out when Jos Verstappen failed to brake and ran into the back of him.

While Montoya is clearly a talented driver, he is still immature. This was displayed in his first Austrian Grand Prix on 13 May, 2001, when he led for the first few laps but was under heavy pressure from Michael Schumacher. In a bid to prevent Schumacher from passing him, Montoya took them both off the track temporarily, losing track position for both of them. He needs to learn when to yield to those behind. He isn't in contention for the title this year and should just try to score what points he can.

Career Highlights (source: autorace.com)

  • 1981 Began kart racing
  • 1984 National Kart Champion in the children's division
  • 1985 Second in the Children's Kart Championship
  • 1986 Kart Champion in the local and national junior division
  • 1987-1989 Several local and national titles in the Kart Komet category
  • 1990 Kart Junior World Championship, Lonato, Italy
  • 1991 Kart Junior World Championship, Laval, France
  • 1992 Took part in the Skip Barber Course (USA); Copa Formula Renault in Colombia, four wins in eight races, five pole positions
  • 1993 Nationale Tournement Swift GTI Championship,seven wins in eight races, seven poles
  • 1994 Karting Sudam 125, class win; Third in the Barber Saab Championship, USA; pole position and circuit record prototype class Mexico; Formula N class Mexico, three wins in five races, four pole positions
  • 1995 Third in the British Formula Vauxhall Championship; class win in the Bogota Six Hours
  • 1996 4th in the Marlboro Masters in Zandvoort (NL); British Formula 3 Championship, two wins; First in the Bogota Six Hours; Took part in the ITC Race at Silverstone (GB), Mercedes
  • 1997 Second in the FIA International Formula 3000 Championship (Marko Team); WilliamsF1 test driver
  • 1998 First in the FIA International Formula 3000 Championship (Team Super Nova) with record points total (65 points); Moved to North America to join Target Chip Ganassi Racing
  • 1999 First in the CART FedEx Championship Series, seven wins, seven pole positions, youngest champion in the history of the series
  • 2000 9th in the CART FedEx Championship Series, three wins, seven pole positions; Winner of the Indianapolis 500 on his first attempt
Current F1 results

Qualifying 

Australia   11th
Malaysia    6th
Brazil      4th
San Marino  7th
Spain       12th
Austria     2nd

Results 

Australia   retired
Malaysia    retired
Brazil      retired
San Marino  retired
Spain       2nd
Austria     retired

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