Juan Pablo Montoya  Born: 20.09.75  Birthplace:Bogota, Colombia  Team: McLaren  2006 Car Number: 4  Last Season: Fourth  GP Pedigree (After Turkish GP)  Starts: 95  Victories: 7  Poles: 13  Fastest Laps: 11  Points: 307  GP Debut: 2001, Australian GP   Five-year Stats

One of the most spectacular and popular drivers in F1, Juan will be hoping to carry his good run of form from the latter part of the 2005 into the 2006 season.

Montoya began racing at the age of five, inspired by his father who was also a racing driver. Juan-Pablo claimed his first national karting championship aged just six, and went on to win numerous Colombian championships over the next decade.

At 17, he moved to compete in the US, as well as racing in the Formula Renault series in Europe, where he took pole for his first race and won half of the races in his debut season.

1996 saw Juan Pablo racing in British F3, where he began to really make a name for himself. He claimed one pole, five fastest laps and three wins during the season, and began to look towards F3000 for the following year.

He managed to not only get a drive, but became runner-up at the end of his first year in the series.

He went one better in 1998, winning the F3000 championship, as well as getting his first taste of F1 as test driver for Williams.

Montoya made the switch to CART with Frank Williams' blessing in 1999, after losing out on an F1 race seat with the team, who signed up Alex Zanardi instead.

Driving for Chip Gannasi Racing, Montoya's debut season put him in the history books.

After winning only his third race, the Colombian went on to claim six more, winning not only the Championship, but also the Rookie of the Year award.

He remained in the US-based series the following season before switching to Formula One in 2001 to race for Williams.

Great fanfare and even greater expectations accompanied his entrance into the pinnacle of motorsport. And it didn't take long before the Colombian proved that the hype was justified.

Only three races into his F1 career, he pulled off an overtaking manoeuvre on Michael Schumacher that put him in the lead of the Brazilian GP - and he did it with two wheels on the grass. <

Interlagos, though, wasn't to be the venue for his maiden win and he was taken out of the race by the lapped Arrows of Jos Verstappen.

Juan did, however, achieve his first victory in his debut season, winning the Italian Grand Prix much to the dismay of the Italian tifosi.

He also claimed three pole positions in his debut season.

Much to many people's dismay Juan was unable to add another victory to his claim the following season, although he still managed to finish the year in third place having scored 50 points.

After a slow start to 2003, Williams suddenly found the sweet spot of the FW25 around the half-way stage and Montoya capitalised immediately.

In a landmark race for the Colombian personally, Montoya took the chequered flag at Monaco and then followed it with another victory at Hockenheim.

Suddenly, Juan was a leading contender to win the World Championship, and while no further victories followed he entered the final two races of the season in the heart of a three-way battle with Kimi Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher.

It was a challenge that was to end in acrimony, however, when Montoya collided with Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello at the US GP and was punished with a drive-through penalty.

It was arguably the most controversial decision by the grand prix stewards during the course of the season, and it left Montoya enraged.

Yet Juan's volatile nature was also a factor in his decision to join McLaren. Within days of an expletive-ridden outburst at Williams personnel over the team radio, Montoya had been lured to McLaren.

The announcement that he had signed a long-term contract with the team, beginning in 2005, was made in November 2003.

In truth, the following 2004 season was a relatively anonymous one for Juan.

That was until the season-finale at Interlagos when, in a topsy-turvy race, Juan marked his final race for Williams with his fourth grand prix victory.

Better still, it was Kimi Raikkonen, Montoya's new team-mate at McLaren, who the Colombian held off to take the chequered flag.

However, 2005 saw Kimi get the better of Juan, whose campaign wasn’t helped by a dubious shoulder injury (apparently caused during a game of tennis, but there were plenty of sceptics in the paddock) that kept him out of the Bahrain and San Marino Grands Prix.

Juan bounced back in the latter part of the season, recording three wins and an additional two podium finishes in the final nine races, which bagged him fourth place in the Drivers’ race.

In 2006 though Juan will be looking to improve on that fourth and at least take the battle to his McLaren team-mate because while he will never be known as the man who dethroned Michael Schumacher, perhaps he can live with being the first McLaren driver to win the World title this decade.

Formula One Career:

2006:	GP with McLaren.
2005:	GP with McLaren (victories in Britain, Italy, Brazil - 60pts fourth in championship).
2004:	GP with Williams - (58pts - fifth in championship).
2003:	GP with Williams - (82 pts - third in championship).
2002:	GP with Williams - (50 pts, third in championship).
2001:	GP with Williams - (31 pts, sixth in championship).

Background:

2000:	CART series with Ganassi, winner of Indy 500
1999:	CART series with Ganassi, overall winner in rookie year
1998:	Formula 3000 series with SuperNova, winner overall with four victories, test driver with Williams
1997:	Formula 3000 series winner with RSM Marko, second overall with three wins
1996:	British F3 with Fortec, fifth overall with two wins