Montoya beat Nick Heidfeld to the 1998 Formula 3000 championship and grabbed the attention of Frank Williams with his wet-weather fortitude at the Hockenheimring. But with Ralf Schumacher and Alessandro Zanardi lined up for ’99, Williams farmed him out to Champ Car team boss Chip Ganassi.
Montoya took the Champ Car title first time out, albeit in dire circumstances at Fontana on the day Greg Moore was killed. Montoya tied for points with Dario Franchitti, but had more race wins.
A second year in the States yielded the Indianapolis 500 in 2000, and he took Jenson Button’s place at Williams for 2001.
His signalled his intentions in his third Grand Prix in Brazil, brushing Michael Schumacher aside to lead until he was taken out by a lapped Jos Verstappen. He lead again in Austria but tangled with Schumacher as his tyres wore down. His first victory came at Monza that year in the weekend after 9/11.
More brushes with Schumacher followed in 2002, but although Montoya took seven pole positions there were no more wins as the Williams struggled for race-day pace.
A title shot was in the offing in 2003 when he won at Monte-Carlo and Hockenheim, but he was thwarted by late changes to the tyre regulations and a controversial penalty at Indianapolis when he clashed with Rubens Barrichello.
The shine also came off his relationship with Williams after a row in Magny-Cours, and Montoya set up a move to McLaren for 2005. He gave Williams one final victory at his last race for them in Brazil, however.
His first McLaren season was the most uneven yet with three wins, two races missed due to injury, a disqualification, and various run-ins with the governing body.
But in 2006 this petered out into just plain uncompetitivity, and Montoya grew weary of a sport which offered little opportunity to demonstrate his flamboyany talents. After an angry fall-out with team owner ROn Dennis, he left to join NASCAR.
juan Pablo Montoya Fans said on 8th September 2009, 12:35
For those who always follow or want to know an update of Juan Pablo Montoya :
Juan Pablo Montoya gains ground in bid for his first Chase berth.
Juan Pablo Montoya seemed relaxed and at ease with his place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings following Sunday night’s Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
And why shouldn’t he be? The Earnhardt Ganassi Racing driver led 31 laps and finished third in the race, a performance that not only boosted him one position in the standings but also left him with an 88-point advantage over the team in 13th. With just one race to go before the field for the Chase For The Sprint Cup is set, that’s not a comfortable margin, but it’s certainly one that Montoya can be pleased with.
Montoya, who is attempting to give team co-owner Chip Ganassi his first berth in the Chase, enjoyed the finish not only for the points benefit, but also because it ended a streak in which he finished 19th or worse in the last pair of races.
He left Atlanta thinking that he could have won the race, something that could boost the team’s confidence and spark some momentum heading into this weekend at Richmond.