Colombian race driver Juan Pablo Montoya is remembered mostly for his time in Formula 1, when he almost beat a prime Michael Schumacher.
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The name Juan Pablo Montoya is one that brings up thoughts of what could have been from Formula 1 fans of a certain age. In the early 2000s, Montoya was seen as the next big thing in F1 racing. Many believed he was the man who would dethrone Michael Schumacher as the king of F1 – despite Schumacher being active and very much in his prime. However, things didn’t work out that way for the speedy Colombian. A combination of poor luck and burnout led to him quitting the sport in less than five years. Yet that does little to diminish his legacy.
Yes, he never won a world championship. But he was among the best racers on the grid at the point and came mighty close to toppling Schumacher in that stretch between 2000-2004.
On his 46th birthday, we look back at the one season when Juan Pablo Montoya could have been ‘the one’ to dethrone Schumacher.
Montoya didn’t have an easy start to his F1 career, despite coming in with bag loads of potential. His first four races with Williams-BMW in 2001 saw him retire due to one reason or another. To make matters worse, only one of those – the spin at the Malaysian GP – was his fault.
He went into the fifth round in Spain desperately needing some luck, but qualified only twelfth. However, he put in a gritty race and finished second – his first points and podium finish ever.
Yet things didn’t change much. He suffered a series of retirements but also notched up three more podium finishes. This included a maiden F1 victory in Italy and a second-place finish at Nurburgring and Suzuka.
2002 was much better, although the sheer pace of the Ferraris meant that Montoya could only finish third in the driver’s standings. Still, it set him up nicely for a tilt at the title in 2003.
He started the year strongly too, finishing second in the season-opening race at Melbourne, Australia. However, he followed this up with a twelfth-place finish at Malaysia and a retirement at Brazil.
He would finish the San Marino Grand Prix, but was only seventh and thus got just the two points. A much-improved fourth place finish at Austria followed, but another retirement at Spain brought further frustrations.
It was clear that Montoya had the ability and a car to challenge for the title, but he needed results – and soon. That arrived in Monaco, where he won the race starting from third. What’s more, the race featured no on-track overtakes, meaning all positional changes happened due to pit stops.
Still, the win brought about the change of luck Montoya desperately needed. The win kicked off a run of eight straight podium finishes for the Colombian.
He followed the win at Monaco with a third-place finish in Canada. Three successive second-place finishes followed at the European GP in Nurburgring, the French GP at Magny-Cours and the British GP in Silverstone.
He then won the German GP at Hockeinheim before finishing third in Hungary and second in Italy. However, a strong surge of mid-season form from Ferrari saw them fight back hard.
To make matters worse, Montoya had less wins than Schumacher – two to the German’s five – going into the United States GP, the penultimate race of the season. This became important going into the last two rounds.
Going into the US Grand Prix, Schumacher led Montoya by just three points. Given both were expected to compete for the win, this was not an insurmountable gap by any means.
Montoya put himself in a good position to compete for at least a podium place, as he qualified in fourth. Schumacher, however, was stranded in seventh.
Yet the race began and it was Schumacher who made the jump early on. He would be up to fourth early on, with teammate Rubens Barrichello struggling with gearbox issues.
It was an incident with Barrichello that changed everything for Montoya. He touched the Brazilian going into Turn 6 on the third lap, causing Barrichello to spin.
Montoya would eventually be given a drive-through penalty for causing the accident, thus ending any chances of a podium finish. He finished sixth while Schumacher won the race.
This meant that Montoya had a 10-point deficit to make up in Japan, meaning he needed a win and for Schumacher to finish outside the points. Yet the German had more wins and, to make matters worse, Kimi Raikkonen was one point ahead of Montoya.
This meant his title chances were over. “A very disappointing race,” he commented afterwards, “basically decided by the penalty I was given for the accident with Rubens and the moment I had to pay it. It is sad to lose my Drivers’ Championship chances in this way.”
To make matters worse, he ended the season with a retirement from the Japanese GP. Still, the fact that he came mighty close to dethroning Schumacher is no meant feat.
