Montoya is a serial winner across multiple motorsport series, including the Formula 3000 International Championship, the Championship Auto Racing Teams series, the IMSA Sportscar Championship, the 24-hour race at Daytona, and the Race of Champions.
The Columbian is in attendance at this year’s Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix and spoke to Sky Sports’ Ted Kravitz after qualifying on Saturday.
Max Verstappen’s jaw-dropping final sector to the chequered flag to stick is Red Bull on the pole reminded Montoya of his racing days.
A blast from the past
Montoya won the Monaco Grand Prix in 2003 having transferred into the sport from Indycar, with a total of seven wins in six years, but his most memorable moment came in his very first Indy 500 appearance.
“Yeah, I did [win the Indy 500 at first attempt],” he told Kravitz.
“I didn’t even want go to! We had moved from Honda to Toyota [engines] and we had a ton of failures. I was annoyed and like why are we taking the focus away from the championship?”
The politics involved has irked F1 drivers down the years also, but Montoya refocussed to take a stunning win.
The 2023 Indycar title tight
Honda has long provided engines for elite-level motorsport teams, recently revealed a partnership with Audi in F1 from 2026, and continues to supply the good for a number of teams in Indycar with this season’s title fight to be decided by the final race.
I think this year, it’s going to come down as always to the last lap,” said Montoya.
“I think Palou looks really strong, Dixon has got a bit of a vengeance and I think the boys at McLaren look really strong.”
The Colombian added: “From the two years I did with them, the second year the car was a lot stronger and they were there and I think Chevrolet made a good step, so we’ll see.”
