Sebastian Montoya "laying building blocks" at PREMA Racing in 2025 F2 season

Written by Vyas Ponnuri

Formula 2's rookie class often spend the first few races in the season getting up to speed. Same is the case for PREMA Racing's Sebastián Montoya, who is finding his feet at the Italian team in 2025.

Montoya returns to the PREMA fold in 2025 | Credit: PREMA Racing

It's been a journey across the pond for the 20-year-old, with his feeder series journey eventually coming full circle in 2025.

The reunion with PREMA Racing certainly marks a pivotal point in Montoya's career. It was the Italian outfit who gave the Colombian his first break into single-seaters, signing him onto their roster in the 2020 Italian and ADAC F4 championships.

PREMA continued to back Montoya's career up until his maiden season in the Formula Regional European Championship (FRECA), resulting in an overall finishing position of 13th, with 44 points to boot.

Formula 2, though, is a different case, as the 20-year-old, who celebrated his birthday on Friday, would allude to.

"I was with them in Formula Regional and then coming back for F2 obviously changes a lot, and I've changed a lot not only as a driver but as a person as well," Montoya said, speaking of his reunion.

It's never easy for any driver to jump into a team and be quick right from the outset, not least for a team with two rookies. Montoya's teammate Gabriele Minì stepped up to PREMA's F2 operations in 2025, having finished runner-up with the Italian outfit in F3 a year prior.

"There's no one from, let's say, last year or the year before to back up everything that's going on. So as the team's working on the car, us drivers are learning as well step by step.

"Gabi (Gabriele Minì) and I have done a good job in let's say in the pre-season and the end of last season to kind of push each other to get better," Montoya expressed, speaking of the partnership with teammate Minì, and their progress this season.

The 20-year-old first burst onto the road to F1 in Zandvoort in 2022, finishing seventh in qualifying, before backing it up with two top eight finishes across the weekend. He accumulated seven points all weekend, performing his super sub role to perfection.

Montoya has been easing into life at PREMA's F2 outfit | Credit: Formula 2

Montoya returns to familiar pastures, having been in Campos and Hitech GP across his two seasons in F3, apart from being on the Red Bull Junior Team. The Colombian also delved into his time with PREMA so far, emphasising on laying the foundation in the opening weekends, and settling in with the demands of F2.

"It's been really nice. We've spent a lot of time on the simulator and done a lot of meetings to kind of get up to speed, because in the end F2 is a long championship," Montoya said, ahead of the weekend.

"It's a very competitive championship and you have to put yourself in the best position at the end of the year to fight for the championship. So obviously right now we're just kind of using building blocks to have a good foundation (for the season ahead)," he continued.

Rookies in F2 have often taken a few races to bed in, before turning up the speed as the year progresses. The prime examples include reigning champion Gabriel Bortoleto, who took victory only in the seventh round of 14 in 2024.

Similarly, AIX Racing's Joshua Dürksen, who scored 62 of his 87 points in the final four weekends of 2024, driving home Montoya's point of laying a foundation and bedding into the series in the first few weekends.

Montoya managed to claim sixth in the opening sprint of 2025 at Melbourne, in a race weekend when he admitted to getting lucky with the weather, and is looking forward to the Bahrain weekend.

"Bahrain was quite positive during the (in-season) test, so I'm quite just looking forward to this weekend, and keep working on what we've been working on and see where we are," Montoya responded.

The PREMA racer starts 18th for both races this weekend. However, the Colombian alludes to his excellent race pace, a facet he will need to deploy in full flow if he is to walk away from points at the end of F2's Bahrain weekend.