Montoya: It is important to go through the school of European motorsport

In the history of Formula 1 over the past decades, there have been drivers who first achieved great success abroad and, thanks to this, ended up in the world championship. One of them is Jacques Villeneuve, who became champion of the CART series in 1995, including winning the Indy 500, and then, in 1997, added the world title, won with Williams.

The second example is Juan Pablo Montoya, who, although he did not become world champion, twice, in 2002 and 2003, achieved third place in the individual competition. The Colombian has 7 victories in Formula 1, but before that he won many races in the same CART, including the Indy 500, which allowed him to win the title in the American series in his first attempt in 1998.

But both Villeneuve and Montoya raced in European junior championships in the early stages of their careers. Juan Pablo, whose 18-year-old son Sebastian now competes in Formula 3, believes that if a driver dreams of Formula 1, he should go to the school of European motorsport.

“If you want to race open-wheel cars anywhere in the world, it’s important to go through the European series,” Montoya told GPBlog. – I think the level is much higher there, and if you achieve success and compete competitively in Europe, you can achieve it anywhere.

Sebastian is now racing in F3 and it was a conscious decision. There are two options: either you show very good results and get the chance to go to F1, or your results are not so good and then you have to continue your career somewhere else.

But even if you perform very well, but there is no chance (of moving to F1), then you have to look for some alternative options. There comes a point when you have to make such a decision. In our case, we will accept it ourselves, or someone else will accept it and make us an offer…”