Sebastián Montoya

Sebastián "Sebas" Montoya Freydell (born 11 April 2005) is a Colombian and American racing driver, who is currently competing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship for Prema Racing.

The son of the former Formula One driver Juan Pablo Montoya, he is a former member of the Red Bull Junior Team. He previously competed in the FIA Formula 3 Championship in 2023 and 2024 for Hitech Pulse-Eight and Campos Racing respectively.

Career

Karting career

Montoya started his competitive karting career in 2013, racing in the Rotax Micro Max class of the Florida Winter Tour when he was just eight years old. He proceeded to race in that series for the following four years, where he achieved a best result of fifth in 2016. Montoya then moved to Europe to compete in the CIK-FIA Karting European Championship in 2017. Montoya spent a total of three years in the European Karting scene, twice driving in the Karting World Championship and three times in the European Championship. In his time in karts Montoya only won one championship at an international level; this being the Rok the Rio competition in 2018.

Formula 4

2020

In 2020 Montoya made his single-seater debut with Prema Powerteam, racing full-time in the Italian F4 Championship and competing in two rounds of the ADAC F4 Championship. Unfortunately for Montoya, he was unable to score any podiums throughout the year, and finished eleventh in his main campaign, behind his three teammates Gabriele Minì, Dino Beganovic and Gabriel Bortoleto.

2021

Montoya re-signed with Prema for the 2021 season, returning to the Italian and German F4 series. He would run a part-time campaign in the latter, finishing second thrice in the six races he competed in, putting him ninth in the standings, ahead of three full-time competitors. Montoya's Italian campaign would be just as fruitful: netting nine podiums but no wins, Montoya finished fourth at the end of the year, being narrowly beaten by teammate Kirill Smal due to a spin in safety car conditions at the final race of the season in Monza.

Formula Regional

2022

At the start of 2022 Montoya made his debut in the Formula Regional Asian Championship with Mumbai Falcons India Racing. After scoring pole position for the first race, Montoya scored his first car racing win of his career in a lights-to-flag victory. Montoya took his second win during the third round at the Dubai Autodrome, also from pole position. He was ultimately unable to finish the season, but ended the championship in 7th place with 92 points.

Montoya moved up to the 2022 Formula Regional European Championship with Prema Racing. Montoya started his season strongly, taking two eighth places and a fourth place in the opening three races. Just before his weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, Montoya announced that he had started receiving backing and sponsorship from Red Bull, marking him as a Red Bull athlete. However, he failed to score a single point during the final eight races, and finished 13th in the standings with 44 points.

2023

At the start of 2023, Montoya competed the full season in the 2023 Formula Regional Middle East Championship with Hitech Grand Prix. Montoya finished the season 21st in the standings, scoring only two points finishes.

FIA Formula 3 Championship

2022

Due to Oliver Goethe's Euroformula Open commitments, Montoya replaced him and made his first F3 appearance in Zandvoort, driving for Campos Racing whilst Hunter Yeany recovered from a wrist injury. Following free practice in which he ended 17th, Montoya stated that "the car is a massive step" and "it's been quite good though." He qualified seventh as a red flag thwarted his rivals attempts to improve their lap times. Montoya finished both races in eighth place, being the only one in the Campos team to score points during the weekend. Montoya was ranked 21st in the final standings classification.

In late September, Montoya partook in the post-season test that year with Hitech Grand Prix at Jerez.

2023

In January 2023, Montoya was announced as a Hitech Pulse-Eight driver for the 2023 FIA Formula 3 Championship. The season opener in Bahrain proved successful, advancing to tenth in the sprint race from 14th. He continued to score points in the feature race, securing ninth place. In Melbourne, Montoya qualified on reverse pole in 12th. He would finish in third after losing the lead to Franco Colapinto and Zak O'Sullivan, but nevertheless it was his maiden podium in F3. However, race winner Colapinto was disqualified post-race, promoted Montoya to second place. In the feature race, he was involved in a race-ending collision with Nikola Tsolov, where the Colombian's suspension broke upon contact. In Monaco, Montoya showed promising pace, qualifying sixth and ending seventh in the sprint race. The feature race looked set for another good result, however when fighting over fifth place with Caio Collet, he made contact and damaged his front wing. Montoya would be penalised for the incident and was later disqualified post-race after a left tyre was found to have been used on the wrong side during his pit stop.

In Barcelona, Montoya fought with Paul Aron for fourth until they made contact, the former coming out with a puncture and dropping to the back of the field, and was later given a penalty for failing to follow race director's instructions, which was to go on the left of the bollards. He made up for lost points during the feature race, by finishing seventh. In Austria, after finishing ninth in the sprint, Montoya charged up from 15th to contending for a podium position. On the final lap, Montoya tried to snatch third place from Colapinto, but collided with him instead and fell to tenth, before being further penalised for that incident. In Silverstone, Montoya led the race early on from reverse pole for the first 13 laps, and was hit from behind by Taylor Barnard following the safety car restart, which dropped him out of the top 10. He eventually crossed the line in eighth place. He finished to eleventh place in the feature race, before benefitting two positions from Collet and Tommy Smith's penalties to move into tenth place.

Hungary was the first weekend where he failed to score points, but rebounded in Spa-Francorchamps with sixth place in the feature race, having started on the correct wet tyres on a damp track. In Monza, he ended his season in disappointment after being punted into the gravel and was out. Overall, Montoya ended the season in a disappointing 16th place in the standings, with 37 points. During the post-season test, he tested for Campos Racing for the Jerez. He then took part in the Macau Grand Prix for the team, but was unable to make the start and finished the race a few laps down.

2024

Montoya reunited with Campos Racing for the 2024 season, where he partners Mari Boya and fellow Red Bull junior Oliver Goethe. Failing to score points in Bahrain after qualifying 29th due to ill health, but earned his first points of the season with a charge to eighth from 15th in the sprint race. He made an even bigger comeback on Sunday, finishing in sixth place. Another comeback came in the Imola feature race, where Montoya charged from 23rd all the way to tenth. Montoya qualified in the top 10 for the first time in Barcelona, but had his lap time deleted and was relegated to 27th. He made comebacks in both races, finishing 12th in the feature but collided with Gabriele Minì in the earlier sprint which took both out. A strong qualifying followed with eighth in Austria, but had a heavy crash during the sprint race after making contact with Alex Dunne. His miserable weekend continued as Tim Tramnitz hit him from behind early on, causing Montoya to retire.

In Silverstone, Montoya qualified 17th, but again made one of his customary comebacks to finish seventh. In the feature race, Montoya was unlucky to be a victim of a collision from a spinning Joshua Dufek. He earned his best F3 qualifying result in Spa-Francorchamps securing fourth. In the sprint race, Montoya fought multiple battles and finished eighth, but was promoted to fifth following post-race penalties. A strong start in the feature race moved him to second, but was ultimately to challenge leader Callum Voisin and ultimately settled on taking his first podium of the year. Qualifying sixth for the Monza finale, Montoya fought hard with Santiago Ramos in the sprint to finish in second again. However, Montoya was penalised and demoted to 11th due to forcing Ramos off-track. Contact with teammate Boya deprived Montoya of points in the feature race. The Colombian finished the year 17th in the standings, scoring 40 points.

FIA Formula 2 Championship

2025

In December 2024, it was announced that Montoya would be promoted to the Formula 2 with Prema Racing, partnering his former Formula 3 teammate Gabriele Minì.

Formula One

Montoya was a member of the Red Bull Junior Team for the 2023 season.

In May 2025, Montoya was announced to join two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso's management team, A14 Management.

Other racing

Endurance racing

2022

Montoya tested an endurance racing car for the first time during the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship rookie test.

Montoya made his endurance debut during the 2022 IMSA SportsCar Championship, partaking in selected rounds for DragonSpeed Racing alongside his father. He was initially supposed to partake in the 2022 24 Hours of Daytona during late January, but was scrapped due to his clashing commitments in the Formula Regional Asian Championship.

2023

Montoya competed in the 2023 European Le Mans Series, driving for DragonSpeed USA in the LMP2 category alongside his father again. He finished seventh in the standings.

Personal life

Montoya's father is Juan Pablo Montoya, a seven-time Formula One Grand Prix winner and former IndyCar driver.

Karting record

Karting career summary

Racing record

Racing career summary

Season still in progress.

Complete ADAC Formula 4 Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete Italian F4 Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula Regional Asian Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula Regional European Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete FIA Formula 3 Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

Complete Formula Regional Middle East Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete European Le Mans Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete Macau Grand Prix results

Complete FIA Formula 2 Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Montoya, Sebastian
Colombian racing drivers
Italian F4 Championship drivers
ADAC Formula 4 drivers
Formula Regional European Championship drivers
Prema Powerteam drivers
Living people
2005 births
Formula Regional Asian Championship drivers
Karting World Championship drivers
FIA Formula 3 Championship drivers
Campos Racing drivers
Racing drivers from Miami
Hitech Grand Prix drivers
Mumbai Falcons drivers
Formula Regional Middle East Championship drivers
Montoya family
FIA Formula 2 Championship drivers