Sebastián Montoya

Montoya started his competitive karting career in 2013, racing in the Rotax Micro Max class of the Florida Winter Tour when he was just eight years old.^[2] He proceeded to race in that series for the following four years, where he achieved a best result of fifth in 2016.^[3] Montoya then moved to Europe to compete in the CIK-FIA Karting European Championship in 2017. Montoya spent a total of three years in the European Karting scene, twice driving in the Karting World Championship and thrice in the European Championship. In his time in karts Montoya only won one championship at an international level; this being the Rok the Rio competition in 2018.^[4]

In 2020 Montoya made his single-seater debut with Prema Powerteam, racing full-time in the Italian F4 Championship and competing in two rounds of the ADAC F4 Championship.^[5] Unfortunately for Montoya, he was unable to score any podiums throughout the year, and finished eleventh in his main campaign, behind his three teammates Gabriele Minì, Dino Beganovic and Gabriel Bortoleto.^[6][7]

 

Montoya re-signed with Prema for the 2021 season, returning to the Italian and German F4 series.^[8] He would run a part-time campaign in the latter, finishing second thrice in the six races he competed in, putting him ninth in the standings, ahead of three full-time competitors.^[9] Montoya's Italian campaign would be just as fruitful: netting nine podiums but no wins, Montoya finished fourth at the end of the year, being narrowly beaten by teammate Kirill Smal due to a spin in safety car conditions at the final race of the season in Monza.^[10]

 

At the start of 2022 Montoya made his debut in the Formula Regional Asian Championship with Mumbai Falcons India Racing.^[11] After scoring pole position for the first race,^[12] Montoya scored his first car racing win of his career in a lights-to-flag victory.^[13] Montoya took his second win during the third round at the Dubai Autodrome, also from pole position.^[14][15] He was ultimately unable to finish the season, but ended the championship in 7th place with 92 points.^[16]

Montoya moved up to the 2022 Formula Regional European Championship with Prema Racing.^[17][18] Montoya started his season strongly, taking two eighth places and a fourth place in the opening three races. Just before his weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, Montoya announced that he had started receiving backing and sponsorship from Red Bull, marking him as a Red Bull athlete.^[19] However, he failed to score a single point during the final eight races, and finished 13th in the standings with 44 points.^[20]

At the start of 2023, Montoya competed the full season in the 2023 Formula Regional Middle East Championship with Hitech Grand Prix.^[21] Montoya finished the season 21st in the standings, scoring only two points finishes.^[22]

Due to Oliver Goethe's Euroformula Open commitments, Montoya replaced him and made his first F3 appearance in Zandvoort, driving for Campos Racing whilst Hunter Yeany recovered from a wrist injury.^[23] Following free practice in which he ended 17th, Montoya stated that "the car is a massive step" and "it's been quite good though."^[24] He qualified seventh as a red flag thwarted his rivals attempts to improve their lap times.^[25] Montoya finished both races in eighth place,^[26] being the only one in the Campos team to score points during the weekend. Montoya was ranked 21st in the final standings classification.^[27]

In late September, Montoya partook in the post-season test that year with Hitech Grand Prix at Jerez.^[28]

 

In January 2023, Montoya was announced as a Hitech Pulse-Eight driver for the 2023 FIA Formula 3 Championship.^[29] The season opener in Bahrain proved successful, advancing to tenth in the sprint race from 14th.^[30] He continued to score points in the feature race, securing ninth place.^[31] In Melbourne, Montoya qualified on reverse pole in 12th.^[32] He would finish in third after losing the lead to Franco Colapinto and Zak O'Sullivan, but nevertheless it was his maiden podium in F3.^[33] However, race winner Colapinto was disqualified post-race, promoted Montoya to second place.^[34] In the feature race, he was involved in a race-ending collision with Nikola Tsolov, where the Colombian's suspension broke upon contact.^[35] In Monaco, Montoya showed promising pace, qualifying sixth and ending seventh in the sprint race. The feature race looked set for another good result, however when fighting over fifth place with Caio Collet, he made contact and damaged his front wing.^[36] Montoya would be penalised for the incident and was later disqualified post-race after a left tyre was found to have been used on the wrong side during his pit stop.^[37]

In Barcelona, Montoya fought with Paul Aron for fourth until they made contact, the former coming out with a puncture and dropping to the back of the field, and was later given a penalty for failing to follow race director's instructions, which was to go on the left of the bollards.^[38][39] He made up for lost points during the feature race, by finishing seventh. In Austria, after finishing ninth in the sprint, Montoya charged up from 15th to contending for a podium position. On the final lap, Montoya tried to snatch third place from Colapinto, but collided with him instead and fell to tenth, before being further penalised for that incident.^[40][41] In Silverstone, Montoya led the race early on from reverse pole for the first 13 laps, and was hit from behind by Taylor Barnard following the safety car restart, which dropped him out of the top 10. He eventually crossed the line in eighth place.^[42] He finished to eleventh place in the feature race, before benefitting two positions from Collet and Tommy Smith's penalties to move into tenth place.^[43][44]

Hungary was the first weekend where he failed to score points, but rebounded in Spa-Francorchamps with sixth place in the feature race, having started on the correct wet tyres on a damp track.^[45] In Monza, he ended his season in disappointment after being punted into the gravel and was out.^[46] Overall, Montoya ended the season in a disappointing 16th place in the standings, with 37 points.^[47][48] During the post-season test, he tested for Campos Racing for the Jerez.^[49] He then took part in the Macau Grand Prix for the team,^[50] but was unable to make the start and finished the race a few laps down.^[51]

Montoya reunited with Campos Racing for the 2024 season, where he partners Mari Boya and fellow Red Bull junior Oliver Goethe.^[52]

 

Montoya tested an endurance racing car for the first time during the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship rookie test.^[53]

Montoya made his endurance debut during the 2022 IMSA SportsCar Championship, partaking in selected rounds for DragonSpeed Racing alongside his father.^[54] He was initially supposed to partake in the 2022 24 Hours of Daytona during late January, but was scrapped due to his clashing commitments in the Formula Regional Asian Championship.^[55]

Montoya competed in the 2023 European Le Mans Series, driving for DragonSpeed USA in the LMP2 category alongside his father again.^[56] He finished seventh in the standings.^[57]

At the start of 2023, Montoya was announced to be joining the Red Bull Junior Team.^[58]

Montoya's father is Juan Pablo Montoya, a seven-time Formula One Grand Prix winner and former IndyCar driver.^[59] He has two sisters, Paulina and Manuela.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	Qualifying	Quali Race	Main race
2023	Campos Racing	Dallara F3 2019	23rd	18th	NC†

• Sebastián Montoya career summary at DriverDB.com