Montoya, the healer and the golden-tipped wand: it was 1997 and it was Marko’s order

The year was 1997. Juan Pablo Montoya made his debut in F1 in 2001 with Williams and before arriving in the Circus he won the Formula CART in 1999 and the F3000 in 1998. In 1997 the Colombian was already involved in the F1 antechamber championship and made his debut in the category as a driver for Helmut Marko’s team, RSM Marko, with which he achieved three victories, finishing second in the championship. Guest of the podcast of the Colombian version of the newspaper AS Montoya told a funny anecdote. Helmut Marko, in fact, was the only one during Montoya’s career to send the South American driver ‘to a doctor’. “The only person who ever sent me for a check-up because he said there was something wrong with me was Helmut Marko – said Montoya – he sent me to a healer because he said ‘your speed and your stupidity can’t coexist’. I ran for his team and lived in an apartment they had made available to me, so it was a situation where if they told you to jump into the void you would jump. I think I went once or twice at most, nothing came of it, there were all these little objects, including a wand with a gold tip that she used to ‘read energies.’