Golf, padel, family time and decompressing: Behind The Visor with Sebastián Montoya

After a stellar 10 rounds of his 2025 Formula 2 season, Sebastián Montoya will get a well earned rest over the summer break.

The PREMA Racing driver has plenty of hobbies to choose from during his holidays before getting back to work, as recently he sat down with us to talk about his life away outside of the cockpit.

PADEL WITH OTHER DRIVERS

“I love golf and padel. Padel a little bit more because it's a little bit easier to play, and I don't travel around with my golf clubs, but I do travel around with a padel racket.

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“For example, in Australia I played twice, in Bahrain I played, in Jeddah I played, it's quite cool and it's quite nice because there is a lot of F1 and F3 drivers that play, so we kind of get together sometimes, which is kind of cool.

“So for me padel is really nice. It's grown quite a lot. In Monaco, you can play quite easily, you can play with friends, also sometimes when I am in Spain, I play with my family and in Colombia, they are starting to play more and more, so when I got back there, it's always nice to play with friends.

“F1 drivers usually play with themselves or they will invite an F2 driver. For example, I got invited to play with Lando, Bortoleto, and Ollie Goethe in Jeddah. But they texted me 30 minutes before a padel match I already had booked for three hours.

“At the end of the three hours, I ran into Yuki, and that was quite interesting. For example, Lance Stroll in Bahrain, he goes to one specific place, and I was there I think 30 minutes, and then he had a match, and we were there for three hours.

“Usually, we play with one other person, because usually it's myself, my dad and my trainer, Roger. So we will play together, but I'd say it's a lot easier to grow that bond between drivers from different categories through padel.”

NO GOLFING IN THE WINTER

“Also, golf, I enjoy a lot. I have not been able to play as much, because I'll be honest, I don't like playing golf in the winter. I think winter testing is enough to suffer with the cold.

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“Being a full Miami boy growing up, the cold is not for me. For me the summer that's where it's at, so golf is something that I played after Barcelona. My friend who is doing a summer job in Madrid, I played with him and my dad a couple times.

“It was nice to pick up the golf clubs again, it was quite fun, and I enjoyed it quite a lot. I don't have as much time as I would like to play, but for sure when I am in Colombia I play and when I am at home.

“Right now, my handicap is 13.6. I believe I can get it lower, but I enjoy it quite a lot. I've played quite a lot, I don't play as much as I would like, this year I think I have played four times. There was once that through eight holes, I was three over, and then the handicap came out as some would say.

“I really like golf because it's really mental. Being able to stay in a good mental space is really important. I'd say that it's good for that reason, it makes you stay present and I try to enjoy what I am doing.

“There are times when you are playing and you are miserable, then you hit one good shot and then you are like 'This time again next week'. You are suffering for three hours and then you hit the one shot and you are like 'I'm back baby, I'm back.

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“You sink a long putt at 18 for a par and you are like 'Oh my God I am Tiger Woods'. Being able to control those emotions, it's a challenge but it's a lot of fun.”

SPENDING TIME WITH FAMILY

“Besides that, I spend a lot of time with my family. I'm always travelling, so I try to spend a lot of time with my sisters. So going ice-skating, going to dinners, doing different activities, it's quite nice, also doing escape rooms.

“Escape rooms is something I like to do quite a lot, me, and my family. I feel like you are working on your brain, having fun while you're doing it, and it's quite challenging.

“In my family, we play lots of games, especially board games, and we do that at home or we go to the escape room and have dinner. It's something quite fun we do sometimes.”

WORKING IN THE GYM AND THE SIM

"Besides that, I do my normal thing, go to the gym, which I enjoy doing and I like quite a lot. I have my phones and play some music while I am at the gym, it’s quite nice, spending some time there, working on yourself.

“The sim is also something I have enjoyed quite a lot, especially recently. I have found more pleasure in it, I have been doing it a little bit more and I enjoy doing it a lot more.

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“It's cool because it's quite relevant to the things I have to work on in real life, so it's quite nice that even in your free time, you do it just for fun, to keep practising, playing with different setups, and learning how the car reacts to different changes.

FINDING WAYS TO DECOMPRESS

“But also, I try to find a balance. One thing I am trying to focus on is letting go of my phone a lot more. Especially because you are travelling so much, TikTok, Instagram, it gets quite addictive, so I try to switch it off.

“One thing I tend to do a lot more, this year compared to previous years, for example on TikTok, with music, I will do a lot more lip-syncing, I will make videos and laugh at them, I won't post everything but just have fun with it.

“I think decompressing is really hard because you are always travelling but just be a kid once in a while. At the end of the day, I feel like in some sense I have matured quite a lot, but I still have my goofy side, which is never going to mature, and I try to keep that as youthful as possible.

“So just keep enjoying. At the end of the day, if you are able to keep enjoying things and you are keeping yourself happy, staying in a good mental health space, everything in your life becomes a lot easier, and that's one thing that is helping quite a lot.

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“Spending time with the family helps a lot. Spending time with my sisters, especially because I don't see them as much. So, for example, my sister does gymnastics, so taking her to gymnastics, picking her up from gymnastics, going to dinner with her after, asking my older sister, do you want to go to dinner tonight, playing board games with them helps me stay planted a lot more.

“It's something that gets you away from your phone, gets you away from the work you have to do and keeps your mind in a peaceful place.”