At the 2025 F2 Imola GP, the Sebastián Montoya stunned with a swift final lap to secure P2 in Qualifying— his best result in the championship so far and a powerful message at a circuit where the Montoya name carries history.
A trip down memory lane to the 2004 San Marino GP
It’s impossible not to draw the line between father and son. Two decades ago, Juan Pablo Montoya—then driving for BMW-Williams—found himself on the receiving end of a controversial move from Michael Schumacher at the very same circuit. The Colombian was attempting an audacious pass around the outside when Schumacher forced him onto the grass, sparking one of the most infamous post-race press conferences of any era. During that year Bridgestone tyres struggled on first laps and restarts, so the Colombian on Michelins tried to take advantage.
“Michael had a poor start and was slow out of the first chicane, so I went to pass him, he closed the door, so I had to back off,” Juan Pablo Montoya recalled at the time. “I went for the inside, and I was alongside him, but the next thing I see he is coming straight for me, and he hits me hard enough to push me onto the grass.”
Recuerdo del GP de Ímola 🏎️🇸🇲
— Esteban Monsalve (@monsalve_juanes) November 1, 2020
¿Cómo olvidar la legendaria disputa entre Schumacher y Montoya en San Marino 2004? Cuando le preguntaron a Juan Pablo, qué pensaba sobre la maniobra del Kaiser, dijo: "Sabes, tienes que ser ciego o estúpido para no verme"#F1 #ImolaGP #Formula1 pic.twitter.com/0xap9AaBqS
In response to Schumacher’s claim that he hadn’t seen the Colombian, Montoya offered a now-iconic jab: “You’ve got to be either blind or stupid not to see me. But, you know, it’s racing.”
Back to 2025, and it’s the younger Montoya who is making waves—this time not with elbows out, but with raw pace and composure under pressure. The 20-year-old lit up the timing screens in the final moments of Qualifying, setting the fastest first and third sectors to briefly snatch provisional pole before being narrowly edged out by Dino Beganovic.
Montoya talks about sharing experiences with his dad
In the post-Qualifying press conference, Montoya was asked by Pit Debrief if he had spoken to his father about racing at Imola, and whether any advice or insight had influenced his approach.
“Yeah, the track was a bit different for him but for sure there’s a few things here and there that I can learn from him,” he said. “We actually talked about it on the track walk and shared with my engineer, and he also has some stories from here which is quite nice.
“It’s really cool, and I think being able to share that with my dad, there’s not a lot of tracks that’s on the calendar that we’ve both been at and haven’t really changed much, but in the few that we have like this one, we obviously talk about the differences and the similarities.”
That bond between generations was quietly powerful. Imola, once the site of fury and frustration for his father, became a place of progress and potential for Sebastián—evidence that while legacies can be inherited, they can also be rewritten.
Montoya Sr. went on to finish 3rd in the 2004 San Marino Grand Prix. He also secured his penultimate podium in F1 at the same venue with McLaren in 2006 as he finished P3 that day as well.
A Qualifying to remember
Montoya was just as thoughtful when asked to describe the F2 Imola GP Qualifying from his perspective. “Obviously, the first run wasn’t exactly what we wanted, but we were able to make small changes to the car,” he said.
“Honestly in the first lap felt quite good, kind of in the right direction and not the perfect lap. A few mistakes here and there, so obviously it’s a little frustrating to miss out over 0.003, but yeah, still quite content with the result. I’ll take what I can get and P2 is not that bad.
“But yeah, it was an interesting session. The track was a bit difficult, and obviously, you don’t have a lot of time to maximise the lap, and you find so much lap time from the first set to the second set of tyres that you kind of have to push and yeah, I think everyone was quite on the limit and the red flag in Jeddah impeded me.
“This time it helped me, so I’m quite happy about it. For me, the results in the beginning have been quite difficult, but bad luck here and there. And the speed wasn’t exactly what we wanted and already in Jeddah we were quick and just the red flag didn’t help us. But yeah, I’m happy with the result and looking forward to the rest of the weekend.”
The challenge of Imola
When asked about the difficulty of putting in a fast lap, Montoya was honest. “Yeah, it’s an old-style racetrack, so obviously if you go a little bit over the limit, you go off track,” he explained. “My first sector was quite strong.
“In sector two I made a small mistake and sector three the tyres were dropping off. And so I was actually looking forward to lap two to see what I could do on lap two, but obviously the red flag came out and yeah, I’m just quite happy with it. I’m happy with the team, with the job they’re doing and the credit they’re giving me. Just need to keep working on that.”
The lap would ultimately earn him P2 after Beganovic edged him out by a tenth, but it was enough to mark a turning point in Montoya’s season and arguably his F2 career so far.
A red flag caused by Kush Maini with just under six minutes remaining brought the session to an early end—securing the top spots and locking in Montoya’s front-row start.
A swift end to Montoya’s F2 Imola GP Qualifying session
When asked by Pit Debrief about how the abrupt end to the session can influence the Championship fight, the Prema driver said, “Obviously, six minutes is quite a long time still, but Richard [Verschoor] was right behind me, and he finished the lap, so if he didn’t improve, maybe he was just missing a little bit of speed.
“He at least was able to complete the lap. I know other people weren’t able to and some people had even completed the lap, made mistakes and weren’t able to improve as much as they wanted, but yeah, it’s F2, it’s F3. It’s really close and sometimes, as Victor [Martins] said, you’re on the lucky side.
“Other times, you’re on the unlucky side. It is what it is. You just need to try to put yourself in the best position for every situation and this situation was quite particular. Some people, I would say myself and Dino, we were on the lucky side of it, and we’ve been on the other side before, so it happens.”
Crawford will take reverse grid pole for the Sprint, but all eyes will be on Montoya in the Feature Race.
There’s no question the Montoya name still carries a charge. But Imola, once the stage of a bitter flashpoint between Michael Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya, now offers a new chapter—one not defined by conflict, but by the quiet, potent ascent of the next generation.
