Recently, the Prema team bid farewell to Oliver Bearman and Andrea Kimi Antonelli as they move up to F1, while welcoming two new forces from F3, Sebastian Montoya and Gabriele Mini. However, the team's decision to venture into the top-tier American formula, IndyCar, significantly impacts the competitiveness of the European battlegrounds of F2 and F3.
Despite being regulars on the points chart and having podium records, Montoya and Mini have yet to see the Prema team catch up to their main rivals. This season marks the team’s second winless year since its establishment and is the first winless season since the 1998 F3000 Championship, highlighting the current challenges they face.
After Mini's switch to the MP team, Prema has signed F3 graduate Mari Boya as Montoya's new teammate. Montoya will turn 21 in April and, as the son of former F1 driver Juan Montoya, he was born in Miami but races under his father's Colombian nationality.
In Montoya's first season in F2, he outperformed his time in F3, securing a place in the top 10 in half of the races. He also stood on the podium at three races held in Monaco, Spain, and the UK, which led to him successfully obtaining sponsorship from the Mumbai Falcons racing team later in the season.
On April, Boya celebrated his 22nd birthday. Hailing from Catalonia in Spain, he’s a polyglot, which has been a significant advantage since he stepped into the Formula racing scene in 2020. In 2023, Boya clinched the European F3 Cup championship. Although his performance in the first two years of the F3 championship didn’t quite meet expectations, he made a triumphant comeback in his third year, securing third place in the championship standings and finishing as the runner-up in the season finale at the Macau GP. This impressive showing led to his inclusion in the Aston Martin driver development program.
Although the Prema team remains competitive despite facing resource shifts, management may continue to funnel most resources into IndyCar in hopes of entering the revenue-sharing system. As a result, last year's F2 and F3 teams may face greater challenges if they do not secure victories, potentially needing to rely on drivers to bring in funding to maintain their current standards.
Currently, it seems that as long as Montoya and Boya can continue to be regulars in the points standings and make it to the podium or win during the season, they can be considered to have a successful season. The duration of this slump will depend on when the IndyCar teams can enter the payout system or make other significant decisions.
