page_title: Juan Pablo Montoya
section_title: 2006
hierarchical_section_title: Juan Pablo Montoya / Formula One career / McLaren (2005–2006) / 2006
caption_attribution_description: Juan Pablo Montoya driving for McLaren at the 2006 Canadian Grand Prix.
context_page_description: Juan Pablo Montoya Roldán, is a Colombian racing driver. He currently competes in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship driving for Acura Team Penske, having won the championship in 2019.
  He won the International F3000 championship in 1998, the CART FedEx Championship Series in 1999 in his debut year in the series, and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2019. His race wins include the Indianapolis 500, Monaco Grand Prix, 24 Hours of Daytona, British Grand Prix, Italian Grand Prix, Grand Prix of Long Beach, and the Race of Champions. Montoya is, alongside Fernando Alonso, one of only two active drivers who have won two legs of the Triple Crown of Motorsport in its original definition. Montoya also equals Mario Andretti and Dan Gurney by winning races in Indy cars, Formula One cars and NASCAR Cup cars.
  In October 2009, Montoya was ranked 30th on Times Online's list of the Top 50 Formula One drivers of all time.
context_section_description: Montoya started his 2006 season learning that the 2005 F1 Champion Fernando Alonso had been contracted by McLaren for the 2007 season. At the same time McLaren did not take up their option on Montoya for 2007, while his teammate Kimi Räikkönen remained a free agent, although it was later revealed that Räikkönen had already signed with Ferrari for 2007 by the time Alonso had signed with McLaren for 2007.
  During the first three races, Montoya consistently underperformed on the track, not managing to improve his position from the start at the Bahrain and Malaysia Grands Prix. Problems with his engine mapping also contributed, resulting in poor straight line performance. At the Australian Grand Prix, he drove an excellent race but with a few mistakes. His car spun near the end of the warm-up lap, caused by too much throttle while warming the tyres, and if Giancarlo Fisichella had not stalled his Renault before the start of the race and triggered another formation lap, Montoya would have started at the back end of the grid. He did manage to regain his grid position though, which angered other team managers. His race ended when towards the end of the race he hit a kerb on the exit of the final corner, while chasing Ralf Schumacher hard for third place. The impact triggered an automatic electronic device in the McLaren MP4-21, shutting down his engine as it went into safety mode.
  In the San Marino Grand Prix, Montoya was forced to use the team spare car for the qualifying session when it was learnt that his car had a fuel pressure problem. McLaren fitted his engine into the team spare car, thus saving Montoya from a 10-place grid penalty. He managed to qualify in seventh place ahead of Räikkönen. The race however was very undramatic for him and a steady performance saw him finish third, earning his first podium finish of the season.
  The races at the Nürburgring and the Circuit de Catalunya, however, were very disappointing for Montoya. He qualified in 9th position for the European Grand Prix but then was stuck behind traffic for almost the whole race before his engine failed a few laps from the end. Catalunya saw Montoya failing to qualify in the top 10 for the first time in the season. He qualified 12th in an underperforming McLaren. He was heavily fuelled and was on a one-stop strategy for the race but he spun and his car got stuck on a kerb and his race was over. Montoya had a solid race at Monaco, inheriting second place 14.5 seconds behind championship leader Fernando Alonso after Räikkönen and Mark Webber went out with engine problems on lap 50. Once again, though, he appeared to be somewhat off his teammate's pace.
  The Canadian Grand Prix saw Montoya pull off a stunning overtaking move on Michael Schumacher on the opening lap, but contact with Nico Rosberg on the next lap and a mistake at the last corner resulted in Montoya hitting the wall and damaging the car, leading to retirement. The United States Grand Prix also brought further disappointment to Montoya's season. An 8-car crash on the first corner saw him retire from the race, yet again taking no points. This crash also involved teammate Räikkönen, and as one of the main instigators of the crash thanks to his and Räikkönen's impact being seen as the initial cause of the crash, this cast further doubt upon Montoya's future in Formula One.
  Montoya's Formula One career effectively came to an end on July 9 when he announced in a public press conference from the US that he had signed a contract to run in the NASCAR series from 2007. On July 11, 2006, McLaren announced that Montoya would stop racing for the team with immediate effect. This ultimately confirmed Montoya's exit from F1. However, in the press conference on July 14 at the French Grand Prix, Ron Dennis stated that Montoya was still under contract with McLaren and he would remain in contract with the team until the expiration of the deal. Following further speculation that he could start racing in the NASCAR series as early as 2006, Dennis publicly offered Montoya an early exit from his contract with McLaren, p
caption: Montoya at the 2006 Canadian Grand Prix.
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