Prema Racing (previously known as Prema Powerteam) was founded in 1983 and entered the Italian Formula 3 Championship the following year. National Formula 3 served as the team's primary proving ground during its formative years. Early alumni included future Touring Car star Fabrizio Giovanardi, multiple Le Mans winner Rinaldo Capello, and Formula 1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve. The team continued to accumulate Italian F3 titles through the 1990s, with Roberto Colciago taking the championship in 1990, Donny Crevels in 1998, and Peter Sundberg in 1999.
In 1988, Prema made its first international appearance at the Macau Grand Prix, a competition the team would contest regularly across the following decades, eventually claiming victory there in 2011 with Daniel Juncadella.
Prema entered the Formula 3 Euro Series in 2003 and immediately won the inaugural edition with Ryan Briscoe. After a period of inconsistent results, the team rebounded emphatically by claiming the 2011 and 2012 titles with Roberto Mehri and Daniel Juncadella respectively. When the series transitioned into the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, Prema began a period of near-total domination, winning every team title from 2011 to 2018 and all but one of the driver championships across that span.
The list of drivers who took the title under Prema colours in the European Championship includes Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, and Mick Schumacher — all of whom subsequently reached Formula 1. Ferrari Driver Academy members Marcus Armstrong, Robert Shwartzman, and Guanyu Zhou competed for the team in 2018, reflecting the programme's status as a preferred partner for multiple F1 junior academies including Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull, Renault, and Williams.
When the FIA restructured the junior ladder and launched the rebranded FIA Formula 3 Championship in 2019, Prema adapted without missing a step. In the inaugural season, the team secured the teams' title with drivers Robert Shwartzman, Jehan Daruvala, and Marcus Armstrong finishing first, second, and third in the drivers' standings respectively.
The 2020 season saw another strong campaign, with Oscar Piastri winning the drivers' championship, supported by Logan Sargeant and Frederik Vesti who finished third and fourth. Piastri's title was part of a remarkable run for the team, which continued to supply the series' most competitive machinery year after year.
The Prema Formula 3 programme has produced an exceptional concentration of graduates who advanced to Formula 1. Among those who won or competed for Prema in Formula 3 before reaching the top tier:
Jacques Villeneuve, who went on to win the 1997 Formula 1 World Championship
Esteban Ocon, who secured his F3 title before a career with Force India, Renault, and Alpine
Lance Stroll, who proceeded to Formula 1 with Williams and then Aston Martin
Mick Schumacher, who later won the FIA Formula 2 Championship before entering Formula 1 with Haas
Oscar Piastri, the 2020 FIA F3 champion who reached Formula 1 with McLaren
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, a Ferrari Academy product who took the F3 European title under Prema colours
Prema's Formula 3 record stands as one of the most accomplished in the history of junior single-seater racing. The team's ability to attract top junior talent from multiple Formula 1 academies simultaneously, and to develop that talent into championship winners, cemented its reputation as one of the premier finishing schools on the path to Formula 1. From the Italian national series in the 1980s through the FIA's global championship structure in the 2020s, the team's F3 operation maintained a consistent standard of competitiveness that few rival outfits matched across such a lengthy timespan.