Montoya and his farewell to F1: “NASCAR is better than making up the middle of the pack”

Montoya, farewell without regrets Juan Pablo Montoya was one of the most instinctive and spectacular riders of his generation, capable of combining talent and aggression without compromising. On the track he has always stood out for a rough style, made up of braking at the limit and decisive overtaking, and it was logical that a personality of this caliber, if brought into Formula 1, would clash with that of Michael Schumacher. It was precisely the combination between the Kaiser and Ferrari that was one of the reasons why Juancho achieved less than he hoped for (seven victories in 95 GPs), but the 1975-born driver remained in the hearts of fans and enthusiasts for being a divisive but authentic figure, who left Formula 1 very early (at 30) because he had no intention of driving to make up the numbers. And today, two decades later, he doesn’t regret it. Montoya’s words “I don’t regret leaving Formula 1, it was the right thing for me. One of the reasons why I left was that I didn’t feel comfortable staying just to make up the numbers”, these are Juancho’s words reported by Casinostugan. “In my day, drivers retired at around 35. So, in 2006, I was about to sign probably my last contract. And I wasn’t going to sign a contract to race mid-table, just to be able to say I was still in F1.” The Colombian’s adventure in NASCAR lasted seven full seasons. His best result came in eighth place in 2009: “I thought it would be fun, but, when I think about it, I wasn’t really having fun. I didn’t like going to the track. And considering all the effort I had to put into something I didn’t like, it didn’t make sense to continue.”