the bogotano Juan Pablo Montoya He is the most famous Colombian in the Formula 1, However, he is not the only driver from the country who has passed through the ‘big tent’ of world motorsport.
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Before Montoya – who at 47 is still competing – a paisa was the first Colombian in Formula 1. It is about Roberto Jose Guerrerowho spent two seasons in the highest category of motorsport in the world.
Guerrero, born in Medellín 65 years ago, was a driver for the Ensign Racing and Theodore Racing Team teams. His debut on the F1 tracks was scheduled for January 23, 1982, at the South African Grand Prix, but because he supported a drivers’ strike, his first official start from the starting grid in Formula was postponed until March 21 at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Guerrero’s best position in Formula 1 was on August 8, 1982, when he was in the eighth place in the German Grand Prix.
In his first season in F1, the paisa only finished one of eight races (the German GP). In the 1983 season he fared better: he crossed the finish line four times and his best placement was a 12th place. He had nine DNFs.
In 1983, Guerrero left Formula 1 to join CART, in the United States. Until 1995 he competed in that category and the following year he left for the Indy Racing League, where it was until 2003.
The highlight of Guerrero in motorsports were the second places he obtained in the 1984 and 1987 Indianapolis 500. In that same race he was third in 1985 and fourth in 1986.
Juan Pablo Montoya won seven Grand Prix
It was the year 1993, when at the Tocancipá racetrack (Cundinamarca), near Bogotá, a boy of barely 18 years old challenged the most experienced drivers of national motorsport. A Sunday race narrator at the time dubbed it ‘The Flying Sardine’. It was Juan Pablo Montoya, son of Pablo Montoya, also a pilot.
At that time, Juan Pablo Montoya divided his time between his high school studies, racing in Tocancipá, and working in a business that sold spare parts for carts in the north of Bogotá. At that age he was clear that he would arrive and succeed in Formula 1.
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However, Montoya’s debut in F1 only took place in 2001 with the Williams team after going through International Formula 3000 and the CART series in the United States.
Good results were not long in coming for Montoya: in 2002 and 2003 he was ranked as the third best driver in the final standings. With Frank Williams’ squad, Montoya was through the 2004 season and In those four years, he won four Grand Prix: the legendary Imola, Italy (2001), Monaco (2003), Germany (2004) and Brazil (2004).
In 2005, Montoya joined the West McLaren Mercedes team, with which he won the British Grand Prix (2005). The following year that team was renamed Team McLaren Mercedes, with which Montoya repeated at the top of the podium at the Italian and Brazilian Grand Prix in 2006.
Memories of the great duels on the F1 tracks between Montoya and the legendary German driver Michael Schumacher are alive among Colombian fans.
In the six seasons that he competed in F1, Montoya did not drop from eighth place in the general table. In addition, he won the ‘pole’ 13 times in 97 Grand Prix. However, its dropout rate was high, 31.91%.
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Today, Sebastián, son of Juan Pablo Montoya, follows in his father’s footsteps in motorsports. He could be the next Colombian in Formula 1.
Ricardo Londoño participated in the 1981 Brazilian Grand Prix, but did not pass the qualifying cutoff and was not part of the race.
Fernando Umana Mejia
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