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IndyCar veteran and F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya's son Sebastian has secured a 2025 F2 seat with PREMA Racing. The Italian team made the official announcement on Monday (Dec. 9), after concluding the 2024 season on Sunday in Abu Dhabi.
The 19-year-old will drive alongside Italian driver Gabriele Mini as his teammate, replacing PREMA's F1-bound drivers in Mercedes' Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Haas' Oliver Bearman. Sebastian expressed his heartfelt gratitude for PREMA in his official statement. He said (via PREMA Racing):
"I'm very excited to join PREMA for the 2025 FIA Formula 2 season. It was the first team I worked with and that makes it very cool to see how the team changed. It is one of the best teams in feeder series racing and now in the world. I'm delighted to join forces with it again and cannot wait to get it started."
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The son of Juan Pablo Montoya knows PREMA's operations very well, having first raced for the team in the 2020 and 2021 Italian F4 and ADAC F4 championships. In 2022, he continued his partnership with them in the Formula Regional European Championship.
PREMA Racing Team Principal Rene Rosin said of his new driver:
"It's great to be working with Sebastian again. We really enjoyed the collaboration in Formula 4 and Formula Regional and now heading into the 2025 FIA Formula 2 Championship, we are sure there is good potential to be put to fruition. The step to F2 is never easy, but we are determined to prepare well together at home and in testing and build on that."
Juan Pablo Montoya explained why he sent his son Sebastian to the European junior racing circuit over America
Sebastian Montoya was born to his parents in Miami. Instead of continuing to climb the American motorsports ladder, his father Juan Pablo Montoya took him to Europe to further his career, replicating his own journey.
Earlier in August this year, Montoya Sr. explained to GPBlog why young drivers dreaming of an open-wheel racing career should compete in Europe. He said:
"If you want to do open wheel anywhere in the world, it's important to come through Europe. I think the maturity and the level is a lot higher and if you can run well here and be competitive, it means you can run well anywhere."
The seven-time F1 Grand Prix winner's words were backed by experience and the sport's reality. Several IndyCar teams also looked at the European Formula Series' while scouting drivers to sign.
"There's two options. You either perform really well and you got an opportunity in F1 or you don't perform enough and you have to look at something else," he added after affirming that moving Sebastian to European championships was a conscious decision.
In 2024, the 19-year-old competed in the F3 championship for Campos Racing, finishing 17th in the standings with 40 points. Sebastian is also a Red Bull junior driver, having assumed that position in 2023. Racing in F1 and winning a championship remains his ultimate dream. With PREMA Racing also expanding to the IndyCar series from 2025 onwards, Sebastian could have a backup plan if his F1 dream fails.
