Montoya was born on 20 September 1975 in a Bogotá hospital to middle-class parents Pablo — an architect who enjoyed motor racing and amateur go-karting — and Libia Roldán de Montoya. The family lived in the San José de Bavaria neighbourhood in Bogotá's northern outskirts. He attended Colegio Gimnasio Bilingue Campestre and later Colegio San Tarsicio, spending four days a week on education and three days racing by the end of his schooling.
His father brought him a go-kart at age five and trained him at the Kartódromo Cajicá outside Bogotá, discreetly remortgaging the house to finance his son's career. Montoya was inspired by drivers Roberto Guerrero and Ayrton Senna. He won the 1984 Colombian Children's National Karting Championship, was second in the 1985 national championship, and won national titles in 1986 and from 1987 to 1989 in the Kart Komet category.
Montoya began car racing in 1992, attending a three-day Skip Barber Racing School at Sonoma Raceway under lead instructor Vic Elford before competing in the Copa Fórmula Renault in Colombia. He finished second in the eight-race championship with four wins and five pole positions. In 1993, he won the National Tournament Swift GTI Championship in a Suzuki Swift, taking seven wins and seven poles in eight rounds.
In 1994, Montoya entered the American-based Barber Saab Pro Series, winning two races and finishing third overall with 114 points. After Jackie Stewart tested him at Silverstone in 1995 and suggested a year's junior racing, Montoya joined Paul Stewart Racing's Formula Vauxhall Lotus Championship team. He won three of fourteen races from pole and took five podiums for third in the championship with 125 points. He also won the 6 Hours of Bogotá with co-drivers Jorge Cortés and Diego Guzmán in a Group C car.
In 1996, Montoya advanced to the British Formula 3 Championship with a Fortec Motorsport Dallara F396-Mitsubishi, taking two wins and five podiums to finish fifth in the championship with 137 points. He finished fourth at the Masters of Formula 3 at Circuit Zandvoort.
For 1997, Montoya joined RSM Marko in the International Formula 3000 Championship after team owner Helmut Marko offered him a drive. He won three races at the Pau Grand Prix, the A1-Ring and the Circuito de Jerez and finished second in the championship with 37.5 points — the series' highest-placed rookie. In November 1997, Williams Grand Prix Engineering invited him to a shootout at the Circuit de Catalunya to decide their F1 test driver; Montoya won the role and covered 5,000 miles in 1998 studying telemetry for drivers Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Jacques Villeneuve.
Montoya joined Super Nova Racing for the 1998 F3000 Championship. During a season-long rivalry with Nick Heidfeld, he won four races, took nine podiums and seven pole positions, winning the championship by finishing third in the season finale at the Nürburgring with 65 points.
Montoya made his CART debut in 1999 with CGR on a three-year contract, driving the No. 4 Reynard 99I-Honda. He won his first CART race, the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, in the season's third round. He then won the Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix at Nazareth Speedway from pole, leading a race-high 210 laps, and became the first rookie to win three successive CART races after leading 93 laps in the Rio 200. Montoya won the Grand Prix of Cleveland at Burke Lakefront Airport from pole, then — after reliability issues — won three consecutive races at Mid-Ohio, Chicago and Vancouver. He finished the season tied on points with Dario Franchitti at 212 each, winning the championship by virtue of seven victories to Franchitti's three. Montoya became CART's youngest champion, the second rookie champion after Nigel Mansell, and was Rookie of the Year.
During the 2000 CART season, Montoya drove a Lola B2K/00-Toyota and won three races — including his first CART win in the rain-delayed Miller Lite 225 at the Milwaukee Mile leading 179 laps, and the Michigan 500 with a last-lap overtake on Michael Andretti by 0.040 seconds — for ninth overall with 126 points. That same year he drove CGR's No. 9 G-Force GF05-Oldsmobile Aurora in the Indianapolis 500 (then part of the Indy Racing League), starting second and leading 167 of 200 laps to win, becoming the first rookie winner since Graham Hill in 1966.
Montoya left CGR with Ganassi's approval and debuted in Formula 1 with Williams in the FW23-BMW for the 2001 season, replacing Jenson Button. He earned his first podium at the Spanish Grand Prix and took his maiden pole at the German Grand Prix. Beginning the Italian Grand Prix from pole, Montoya led 29 of 53 laps to win — his maiden F1 victory and the first for a Colombian in F1. He finished sixth in the World Drivers' Championship (WDC) with 31 points.
In 2002, Montoya qualified on pole position seven times, including five consecutive poles mid-season. He scored podiums in Australia, Malaysia, Spain, Austria and Britain, finishing third in the WDC with 50 points.
For 2003, engineer Frank Dernie's improvements made the FW25-BMW particularly competitive in hotter conditions. Montoya won the Monaco Grand Prix, then won the German Grand Prix by over a minute from pole — his second 2003 victory — moving him to second in the WDC. He was mathematically eliminated from title contention at the penultimate round after a drive-through penalty at the United States Grand Prix, finishing third in the WDC with 82 points, eleven short of the title.
The 2004 FW26-BMW was slow and lacked downforce through Williams' switch to a twin-keel chassis and the "Walrus nose" front wing, which was later abandoned. Montoya was disqualified from the Canadian Grand Prix for oversized brake ducts and from the United States Grand Prix for changing cars too late. He recovered to win the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix, finishing fifth in the WDC with 58 points.
Montoya signed with McLaren to replace David Coulthard for 2005, after Williams rejected Ron Dennis's offer to release him a year early. His teammate was Kimi Räikkönen. Montoya missed the Bahrain and San Marino Grands Prix with a hairline fracture in his left scapula. He won the British Grand Prix, the Italian Grand Prix from pole, and the Brazilian Grand Prix for three victories and fourth in the WDC with 60 points.
Montoya remained at McLaren for 2006 but the team did not exercise its option to retain him for 2007. He struggled with understeer and tyre temperature problems in the MP4-21, scored points in five of the first nine races including second in Monaco, then was involved in an eight-car accident at the United States Grand Prix. He left F1 following that race, replaced by Pedro de la Rosa, and was eighth in the WDC with 26 points.
Montoya signed a multi-year contract on 9 July 2006 to replace Casey Mears in CGR's No. 42 Dodge Charger from the start of 2007, after discussions with Felix Sabates since June. He made his stock car debut in the Food World 250 at Talladega Superspeedway as preparation, starting second and finishing third. His NASCAR Cup Series debut came in CGR's No. 30 Dodge at Homestead–Miami Speedway in the season-ending Ford 400, where his car caught fire after Ryan Newman hit him.
For his first full Cup season in 2007, Montoya earned his first career top-five at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March. He then started 32nd in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway and led the final seven laps after passing Jamie McMurray for his first Cup victory, becoming the series' first foreign-born winner since Earl Ross in 1974. He finished 20th in the championship with 3,487 points and won the Nextel Cup Rookie of the Year by 24 points over David Ragan. In 2007's Busch Series he led 43 laps in the Telcel-Motorola Mexico 200 at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez before bumping CGR teammate Scott Pruett for his first NASCAR victory, becoming the first foreign-born NASCAR winner since Ron Fellows in 2001.
In 2008, with CGR's decline in performance, Montoya had no top-ten finishes in Cup qualifying and his best result was a second-place at Talladega. He was 25th in the standings with 3,329 points.
For 2009, after CGR merged with Dale Earnhardt Inc. to form Earnhardt Ganassi Racing (EGR), Montoya drove a Chevrolet Impala. He had ten top-ten finishes, qualified on pole at Talladega and won his first Cup pole at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He qualified for the Chase for the Sprint Cup and finished eighth overall with 6,252 points — his career-best NASCAR season result.
In 2010, Montoya started third in the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen at Watkins Glen and led 74 of 90 laps to take his second and final Cup victory. He was 17th in the standings with 4,118 points. His 2011 season yielded eight top-tens and 21st overall; the 2012 season brought only two top-tens, 22nd overall with 810 points. In 2013, his final full-time Cup season, his best result was a second-place in the FedEx 400 at Dover after leading 19 laps, finishing 21st in the standings with 891 points.
Midway through the 2014 Cup season, Montoya drove Team Penske's No. 12 Ford Fusion in two races — at Michigan and at Indianapolis — finishing outside the top ten in both. EGR had informed him in August 2013 that his contract would not be renewed for 2014.
Montoya returned to NASCAR after a ten-year absence to compete in the 2024 Go Bowling at The Glen driving 23XI Racing's No. 50 Toyota Camry XSE. He qualified 34th and finished 32nd.
Montoya joined Team Penske for the 2014 IndyCar Series after meeting president Tim Cindric at Michigan. He qualified on pole for the Pocono IndyCar 500, overtook Tony Kanaan with four laps remaining to win the fastest 500-mile race in IndyCar history at an average of 202.402 mph (325.734 km/h), and finished fourth overall with 586 points.
In 2015, Montoya won the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and the Indianapolis 500 — his second — passing teammate Will Power with three laps to go in the final. He finished with 556 points, tied with Scott Dixon, losing the championship on tiebreak to Dixon, who had won three races to Montoya's two.
For 2016, Montoya won the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg again, leading 44 of 110 laps. A flat tyre dropped him in the following Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix. An early accident in the Indianapolis 500 left him 33rd. He ended the season eighth in the standings with 433 points.
Penske gave Montoya a spot in their fifth entry for the 2017 Indianapolis 500; he finished sixth. IndyCar later chose him to test Chevrolet's specification of the Dallara universal aerodynamic kit at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Mid-Ohio, Iowa Speedway and a street circuit simulation at Sebring. He drove Arrow McLaren SP's No. 86 Dallara-Chevrolet in the 2021 IndyCar Series for the GMR Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500, finishing 21st and ninth respectively. In 2022, he drove the No. 6 Arrow McLaren SP car in both events, finishing 24th in the GMR Grand Prix and 11th in the Indianapolis 500.
Montoya won the 2007 24 Hours of Daytona in the No. 1 CGR Riley MkXI-Lexus shared with Salvador Durán and Scott Pruett, completing 668 laps. He won a second consecutive 24 Hours of Daytona in 2008, sharing with Dario Franchitti, Pruett and Memo Rojas after 695 laps. In 2009 they lost the win to Brumos Racing by a record-close 0.167 seconds.
Montoya won the 2013 24 Hours of Daytona in CGRFS's No. 01 Riley MkXXVI-BMW DP car alongside Charlie Kimball, Pruett and Rojas, completing 709 laps.
In November 2015, Montoya was invited by Porsche to participate in the post-season FIA World Endurance Championship rookie test in a 919 Hybrid at the Bahrain International Circuit. He joined Penske's IMSA programme officially in August 2017 and drove the No. 6 Acura ARX-05 DPi car paired with Dane Cameron for the 2018 and 2019 seasons. In 2019, Montoya and Cameron won the IMSA SportsCar Championship DPi Drivers' title with 302 points after Montoya took victories at Mid-Ohio, Detroit and Laguna Seca. In June 2018 he made his 24 Hours of Le Mans debut in United Autosports' No. 32 Ligier JS P217-Gibson with Hugo de Sadeleer and Will Owen, finishing third in LMP2 and seventh overall.
Montoya won his class in the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans while competing for DragonSpeed with Ben Hanley and Henrik Hedman. In 2022, he shared the No. 81 DragonSpeed–10Star Oreca LMP2 car with Hedman and his son Sebastián across six IMSA races, winning his category at the Lexus Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio.
Montoya competed in the 2017 Race of Champions at Marlins Park in Miami on his wife's suggestion, winning the individual Race of Champions by defeating Tom Kristensen 2–0 in the final. Team Colombia's Montoya and Gabby Chaves were eliminated in the Nations Cup semi-finals by Team Germany's Sebastian Vettel.
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