PREMA happens to have two of the most coveted seats in Formula 2, every year that they operate with their excellent track record attracting the best talent.
Take their 2024 line-up for example, consisting of Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman.
While they haven’t had their best season to date, both have found ways to graduate to Formula 1 for 2025 with Mercedes and Haas.
They’ve achieved the title with many drivers who have gone on to enjoy illustrious and fruitful careers, such as Pierre Gasly, Charles Leclerc, Mick Schumacher and Oscar Piastri.
Gabriele Mini a serious candidate for Prema drive
So you can see why any young talent making their way up from Formula 3, would want to drive for the Italian team who know how to develop drivers.
While filling in for the absent Oliver Bearman at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, recent Formula 3 runner-up Gabriele Mini received an opportunity to drive faster machinery for the weekend.
He impressed with a podium in his first ever race – without any testing mileage, before retiring in Sunday’s Feature Race.
READ MORE: Formula 2 2025 driver line-up with every team’s confirmed entry for the grid
His result put the series on high alert however, that next year he will be a contender if he happens to end up in the same seat.
According to Italian publication Gazzetta dello Sport, the ‘exceptional’ Mini is considered to be a ‘serious’ candidate for a promotion to their team for 2025.
How PREMA have improved after a nightmare start to new regulations
A disastrous start to the season at Bahrain saw both of their cars qualify dismally in the first session with new cars in 2024.
Since then, they have fined tuned their packages and managed to extract some more pace out of their cars, but they aren’t quite back to their usual selves yet.
That could be down to improvements from their rivals, but they have two excellent drivers behind the wheel that you would expect could make up for that.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Gabriel Bortoleto’s junior racing career
Going forwards, they have a lot of work to do over the winter to make sure that they can return to title-contending form, rather than irregular race-winning form.
They wouldn’t want their reputation as the best in the business to slip, which could happen if they were to suffer two poor seasons by their own standards.