Montoya finished in second, and the result gave him more confidence than ever.

Montoya only finished six races, but he nevertheless won three pole positions and stood on the podium four times, including his maiden Formula One victory at the 2001 Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

Montoya at the 2003 French Grand Prix, a race in which his WilliamsF1 | Williams team finished first and second.

In the last 7 grands prix Montoya finished, he scored 3 wins, 2 poles and 5 podiums, as well as setting a track record ( fastest lap ) of 1: 24. 770, which stands today still, at the 2005 Turkish Grand Prix.

Montoya also earned the honor of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 2007 Rookie of the Year and finished 20th in series points.

Montoya ran in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona and finished second after a thrilling duel with David Donohue.

Montoya finished 14th in the Daytona 500 and finished 11th at Auto Club Speedway.

After going a lap down Montoya finished 8th at the Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway.

Montoya finished the first 26 races in eighth place in the standings, which made him the first foreign born driver to qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Montoya began his NASCAR season with Daytona Speedweeks ; the first race was the Bud Shootout exhibition race in which he finished 10th.

Two weeks later in the Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Montoya, in a blue Clorox scheme led seven laps and finished 3rd.

Räikkönen later battled Montoya for the lead and finished 1 second behind him in 2nd.

Räikkönen eventually finished 5th, with team mate Montoya ahead in 3rd place.

Ralf Schumacher finished the 2001 Drivers Standing in 4th position ahead of team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya.

He finished the championship again in 4th, this time behind team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya.

Schumacher finished the season 5th and his contribution, alongside Juan Pablo Montoya did, however, help the Williams team to finish second in the Constructors Championship in 2002 and 2003, narrowly missing out on the title to Ferrari on the latter occasion.

Montoya, a rookie in the Sprint Cup series, finished second to Tony Stewart.

Jarno Trulli finished fourth for Renault, ahead of Nick Heidfeld, Montoya, Giancarlo Fisichella and Wilson.

Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya finished 18 seconds behind in second position while McLaren driver Kimi Räikkönen came home in third place and was the only other driver apart from Montoya, not to be lapped by Schumacher.

Barrichello finished second to Montoya as he was five seconds down on the Williams car.

His team-mate, Rubens Barrichello, finished in second place ahead of the polesitter and Williams driver, Juan Pablo Montoya.

David Coulthard took third for McLaren, just two seconds ahead of the Williams of Juan Pablo Montoya, while Jarno Trulli and Jacques Villeneuve battled throughout the race and finished fifth and sixth.

During the 1998 F3000 season, Montoya opened the season up with a record four straight pole positions.

For the 1999 season, in the hope of attracting more investors to the underperforming team, Frank Williams agreed to a driver swap with CART team owner Chip Ganassi, in which Ganassi's 1997 and 1998 CART champion driver, Alessandro Zanardi, would return to Formula One and Montoya would take his place in the competitive American series.

They won four consecutive series championships, with Jimmy Vasser ( 1996 ), Alex Zanardi ( 1997 – 1998 ), and Montoya in 1999, becoming the first car owner to win four consecutive CART championships.

Following in the footsteps of recent F3000 graduates such as Juan Pablo Montoya and Bruno Junqueira, Bourdais moved to Champ Car racing in the United States and joined Newman-Haas Racing for the 2003 CART season.

In the ten races during the season, Montoya had three wins and three pole positions.

Montoya was the fastest of them all and he and Max Wilson were signed by WilliamsF1 to be test drivers for the following season.

The season that saw Montoya crowned as the youngest ever CART FedEx Championship Series Champion at the age of 24 was closely fought, especially with Dario Franchitti who led the championship going into the final race in California.

Montoya still had a contractual relationship with Williams and after his impressive rookie season the Grove-based team were keen for him to drive for them in Formula One.

Montoya made his Formula One debut for the BMW-powered Williams team in the 2001 Formula One season at the Australian Grand Prix.

The ninth round of the season was the European Grand Prix and Montoya held pole for most of qualifying only for both Michael and Ralf Schumacher to bump him down to third in the final seconds.

In the 2002 Formula One season, Montoya was the best of the rest as Ferrari's dominance left available no better place than third.

McLaren-Mercedes announced that they would take on his racing services from 2005 at an end of season announcement, although it was believed that Montoya had already decided to leave immediately after the French GP.

In the final stages of the season it was clear that Montoya and his car were finally adapted to one another.

Montoya started his 2006 season learning that the 2005 F1 Champion Fernando Alonso had been contracted by McLaren-Mercedes for the 2007 season.

Catalunya saw Montoya failing to qualify in the top 10 for the first time in the season.

On July 9, 2006, Montoya announced his plans to compete in the NASCAR Nextel Cup series beginning with the 2007 season, racing for Chip Ganassi and Felix Sabates ' NASCAR operation, Chip Ganassi Racing, in the No. 42 Texaco / Havoline Car.

Montoya and his No. 42 crew went on to amass one win, three top-five and six top-10 finishes during the 2007 Sprint Cup season.

Montoya ended the season 25th in the points standings, 5 spots lower than in 2007.

The 2011 season started well for Montoya.

Montoya started the 2011 NASCAR season on a high note finishing 6th in the Daytona 500 and 5th in points.

* CART Racing – Juan Pablo Montoya won the season championship

Despite the disappointment of the 2004 season, Räikkönen was still seen as one of the rising stars of the sport, along with BAR's Button, Renault's Alonso and 2005 McLaren teammate Montoya.