Inside the racing university moulding F1 drivers and engineers alike

There are trophies all over the place. Shelves, cupboards, window sills and even tool racks
are littered with gongs and commendations of various sizes and shapes. Prema people joke
that soon they will be propping up doors with them. Not only is the current building unable
to accommodate all the team’s equipment and
all its staff, but also the prizes.

“To be honest, I have a bit of a problem with that, I still have to find the time to organise my own cabinet.” Prema boss Rene Rosin welcomes GP Racing to his office at the team’s base in Grisignano di Zocco in northern Italy, some
50 kilometres from Venice.

The shelves in Rosin’s office cabinet are no different to those in the marketing department next door, where his wife Angelina works among others, or his father Angelo’s office across the hall. The ones in Rene’s office, he says, are of no particular importance – they’ve ended up here as a result of numerous moves to accommodate the growing organisation in what you might call a historic building on Via Alcide de Gasperi.

As we meet, the day before the team’s 40th-anniversary celebrations, a small part of the collection of the most valuable trophies is being transported to the venue in Venice. There, more than 400 guests will gather, including many former Prema drivers – the likes of IndyCar star Ryan Briscoe, F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve and current Alpine driver Esteban Ocon.

“We still have a lot of them in boxes,” Rene Rosin admits of the ever-expanding silverware inventory. The team founded by his father has now grown to 150 people. It’s still considered a “family team”. “But it’s starting to become too big a family now,” he laughs.

Last year, 19 drivers were responsible for sending trophies to Via Alcide de Gasperi on an almost industrial scale – and that’s just counting the single-seaters. More recently, Prema has been involved in endurance racing as well as running a satellite team in Italian karting. But its roots lie in the junior single-seater scene.

Photo by: Prema Powerteam

Rene Rosin's team has run numerous drivers to titles on the way to F1, with current Alpine ace Esteban Ocon among its esteemed graduates on the current grid

Step back in time

Prema Racing has been the dominant force in Formula 4 for many years. Virtually all the great talent of recent years has come through the structure run by Rene Rosin, his father, and his wife. In the last 10 years, Prema has won the national championship seven times and its drivers have won six individual titles.

In the category above, the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine, Prema has won four team titles in the last five years and the same number of individual titles for its drivers. Since joining FIA Formula 3 in 2019, the team has won all but one championship and, in the Formula 3 European Championship that preceded it, Prema was simply in a league of its own, winning seven consecutive team titles between 2013 and 2018. It is beyond Rosin’s ability to even begin to estimate the number of trophies the team has collected over the past 40 years.

“No, I just don’t know,” he says. “Honestly, nobody knows.”

"We put Guillaume Capietto in charge and, for me, he’s one of the best engineers there is in the whole single-seater world, not just in F2. Together we built a strong structure to make sure everything worked as well as possible" Rene Rosin

Pre.Ma Racing, which stands for ‘PREparazione MAcchine Racing’, was founded in 1983 by Angelo Rosin and his associate Giorgio Piccolo. Rene Rosin explains: “It was Giorgio doing the sporting side and my dad doing the engineering side. Then my cousin did the mechanics. And then a year later, when I was about two, my mum came in, and she did the accounts. From there it started to grow.

“First they had two cars in Formula 3, then three cars. At first, it was just in Italy and then they started going to the F3 race at the Monaco Grand Prix and the Macau Grand Prix. And then we began to do various other projects and here we are, 150 people and two dozen cars.”

Rosin starts counting: “Six in Formula 4, four in Formula Regional, three in F1 Academy, three in Formula 3 and two in Formula 2. Plus maybe another one in the Academy for the wildcard driver in a few rounds.”

Prema’s stream of success will certainly not stop in 2024. Formula 4 will feature four of the most talented young karters who are already being compared with the golden generation of Max Verstappen, George Russell, Lando Norris, Alex Albon and Charles Leclerc.

Remember the names: Freddie Slater, Kean Nakamura Berta, Alex Powell and Tomas Stolcermanis will all start their journey in single-seaters with Prema. Oleksandr Bondarev, winner of the European Championship in OKJ and Williams protege, who’s just a couple of years younger, will continue with Prema in karting. All are predicted to have a future in F1, where almost half of the current drivers have raced at some stage in their careers for Prema.

Photo by: Prema Powerteam

Leclerc won the F2 title with Prema in 2017 on his way to reaching F1 the following season

Happening all over again

In 2017, the team literally stormed into GP2 – never having competed at this level before, Prema crushed the opposition with Pierre Gasly and Antonio Giovinazzi. Both ended up in F1. Then in F2, which replaced GP2 in 2018, Charles Leclerc, Mick Schumacher and Oscar Piastri moved up a class after winning titles with Rosin’s team.

“We put Guillaume Capietto in charge and, for me, he’s one of the best engineers there is in the whole single-seater world, not just in F2,” says Rosin. “Together we built a strong structure to make sure everything worked as well as possible. But we also had very good drivers, because Pierre and Antonio not only pushed each other but also worked together, and for me that was always important, that the drivers could work together.

“To be honest, I didn’t expect us to win the championship. I was hoping for race wins but in the end we finished first and second. It was a great season. And then a year later, with Charles as well. I can’t complain! We had some incredible talent in the team. And I don’t want to forget all the drivers in F3, because we had Lance Stroll, Esteban Ocon... When I look at the Formula 1 grid now, I have to say I feel very privileged and very lucky to have worked with such talent.”

Our conversation is interrupted by a phone call from none other than Toto Wolff. Dealing with F1 team bosses is part of Rosin’s daily routine and part of the brief chat is, of course, dedicated to 17-year-old Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Mercedes’ hottest youngster has won two titles out of a possible two after moving up from karting, in Italian Formula 4 and FRECA, both with Prema.

At the end of last year, Mercedes shocked everyone – or rather, only those who know very little about Antonelli – with the news that he would be moving straight into F2 in 2024, bypassing F3. Almost needless to say, he’ll be with Prema.

There is hardly a team in Formula 1 whose juniors aren’t currently racing for Prema. As well as Mercedes, Rosin’s mentees currently include members of the Ferrari, McLaren, Aston Martin, Alpine and Williams junior programmes, and in the recent past both of the team’s F2 drivers were from Red Bull’s roster.

In an office just a few dozen metres from Rene Rosin’s, the team’s engineers work on reports even during the winter. After each race or test, 20-plus-page documents prepared by Prema are sent to the drivers, managers and bosses of the junior programmes.

Photo by: Prema Powerteam

Andrea Kimi Antonelli is the latest driver affiliated to an F1 team to race for Prema in F2 - the Merc youngster having bypassed F3

“Honestly, I’m trying to give everyone my professionalism, our professionalism, our fairness,” says Rosin of working with F1 teams, often managing drivers from different manufacturers at the same time. This year Antonelli’s F2 team-mate will be another hot young talent, Oliver Bearman, a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy.

“Our way of working is to provide the best service possible to each and every one of them. And if that is the priority, we can work with anyone. We send out these reports, always trying to be as objective as possible. They go to the manufacturers, if we’re dealing with drivers from them, to the management and also to the drivers themselves. Because the report is the first thing the driver has to go through after every race. There will always be positives and negatives, and you can learn from both.”

A new challenge lies ahead for Prema. Together with Iron Lynx, the Rosin team will effectively run Lamborghini’s factory programme in the World Endurance Championship. The
LMDh prototypes will be serviced by Prema engineers and mechanics – a new level for the once small family team.

"If we’re going to do something else in the future, we’re not going to do it just to be there. If we decide to do something, it’s because we want to be competitive, to fight for wins" Rene Rosin

“We have a ladder for drivers,” says Rene Rosin, “from karting to Formula 4, to Regional and up to F2. But we also have a ladder for engineers. For example, we have some guys who start with their internship, do data, do something small, and then move on to Formula 4. And they all see that we can provide opportunities to grow, not just for drivers. They can go to F3, F2.

“That’s also important for us because for mechanics and engineers who work in motorsport, the dream is F1, as it is for drivers. And sometimes they leave. But now we can offer something really big, the World Endurance Championship, the pinnacle of motorsport in terms of technology, hybrid cars, Le Mans.”

On Rosin’s desk, right on top of the latest issue of GP Racing, is an interesting business card bearing the logo of another major racing series.

“We will have, I think, something quite big coming up,” he smiles, tucking it away in the desk. “But let’s wait, I don’t want to say anything until it’s finalised, but we’ll potentially have something big in 2025.

“My father is always against further growth because, to be honest, it’s already quite a challenge to manage everything. But again, if we’re going to do something else in the future, we’re not going to do it just to be there. If we decide to do something, it’s because we want to be competitive, to fight for wins.”

Photo by: Lamborghini Squadra Corse

Prema's latest challenge is working with Iron Lynx on the SC63 LMDh it will race in the World Endurance Championship

The LMDh programme is forcing Prema to expand further. It has bought another building in the area and is fitting another workshop. This will house the team’s simulator, which is currently a little further away.

“And we’ll also have a room for all of the trophies,” adds Rene. And what about F1?

“Sure, we can dream about Prema in F1,” he says. “But you need a lot of factors to come together. At the moment, I don’t see that happening in the next few years, for sure,
with the way the Concorde Agreement is now.

“But if some things change, if there’s a chance
and a possibility for a new entry, we’ll be there
to look at it.”

Photo by: Prema Powerteam

Will we ever see Prema racing in Formula 1?