Sebastian Montoya has earned a promotion to Formula 2 and will contest the 2025 season with Prema Racing, returning to the squad he last raced for in 2022.
The 19-year-old son of seven-time grand prix winner Juan Pablo Montoya will partner Gabriele Mini at the Italian squad, which finished fifth in the 2024 standings.
Montoya first joined Prema in 2020 to compete in Formula 4 and Formula Regional, before joining Hitech Grand Prix for his move to Formula 3 in 2023.
He spent two seasons in the series, moving to Campos in 2024 where he finished 17th in the standings with a podium in the Spa-Francorchamps feature race.
“I’m very excited to join Prema for the 2025 FIA Formula 2 season,” said Montoya, who is a Red Bull junior.
“It was the first team I worked with and that makes it very cool to see how they evolved.
“It is one of the best teams in feeder series racing and now in the world. I’m delighted to join forces with them again and cannot wait to get started.”
Prema has won three F2 drivers’ titles since the championship re-branded in 2017, helping Charles Leclerc, Mick Schumacher and Oscar Piastri all claim glory.
Its drivers this year, Oliver Bearman and Andrea Kimi Antonelli, have both moved to Formula 1 for 2025 with the result that Prema will have an all-new line-up next season.
Montoya's fellow rookie, Mini, remains with Prema after finishing second to Leonardo Fornaroli in the F3 standings.
The Alpine junior will return to F2 after finishing third in the Baku sprint race when called up to replace Bearman, who was subbing for the banned Kevin Magnussen at the Haas F1 team, on an impressive debut outing.
Prema boss Rene Rosin said of Montoya: “It’s great to be working with Sebastian again.
“We really enjoyed the collaboration in Formula 4 and Formula Regional, and 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.”
Montoya is the 15th driver confirmed for the 2025 F2 campaign following a flurry of announcements since last weekend’s Abu Dhabi season finale, where F1-bound Gabriel Bortoleto won the title for Invicta.
On Tuesday, Hitech announced that Dino Beganovic will partner Luke Browning, the Swede moving across after a strong end to the season with DAMS.
ART also announced Ritomo Miyata as its first signing, the 2023 Super Formula champion joining from Rodin Motorsport for a second season in F2.
Roman Stanek and Kush Maini will return for a third F2 season at Invicta and DAMS respectively, while F3 race winner Sami Meguetounif has been announced at Trident to partner Max Esterson, the duo among the nine drivers so far making the full-time step-up from F3.
2025 Formula 2 grid so far
Invicta Racing: Leonardo Fornaroli, Roman Stanek
Campos Racing: Arvid Lindblad, TBC
MP Motorsport: Richard Verschoor, Oliver Goethe
Hitech Pulse-Eight: Dino Beganovic, Luke Browning
Prema Racing: Gabriele Mini, Sebastian Montoya
DAMS: Jak Crawford, Kush Maini
ART Grand Prix: Ritomo Miyata, TBC
Rodin Motorsport: Christian Mansell, TBC
AIX Racing: TBC, TBC
Trident: Max Esterson, Sami Meguetounif
Van Amersfoort Racing: TBC, TBC
