Montoya looks back on collaboration with Marko: 'Strict team boss'

The appointment of Sebastian Montoya as Red Bull Junior driver earlier this year means Helmut Marko will once again team up with a driver from the Montoya family. Father Juan Pablo Montoya, in an interview with Motorsport.com, looks back on the period when he drove for Marko's team.

In 1997, Montoya made the move to International Formula 3000, a competition similar to today's Formula 2. There he joined RMS Marko, the team owned by Helmut Marko. Montoya managed to win three of the 10 races, as well as a podium finish, but it was not enough for the win. Montoya eventually finished second in the championship, just two and a half points behind Ricardo Zonta of Super Nova Racing.

According to Montoya, Marko never really forgave him for failing to capture the title. "He thinks I deliberately let the championship slip in the penultimate race," the Colombian explained. Marko's suspicions were no doubt fuelled by the fact that the following year Montoya switched to Super Nova Racing, with which he became champion in 1998. According to Montoya, however, it had nothing to do with that: RMS Marko's engineers would simply have made a mistake with the car's tuning, causing Montoya to fall just short in 1997. But that certainly soured the relationship between the two men. "He is angry with me to this day," Montoya knows.

Marko was a stern team boss

The partnership was by no means an easy one, Montoya explains. Marko was a rock-hard team boss who had little mercy for his driver. But according to Montoya, that did make him a better driver. The Colombian is convinced that Marko did everything with the right intentions.

After his time in Formula 3000, Montoya was promoted to Formula 1, where he raced for Williams and McLaren. His best result was a third place in the championship in 2002 and 2003. Besides Formula 1, Montoya also raced in NASCAR, IndyCar and the IMSA championship.