Prema's path to GP2 was built on two decades of consistent championship-winning in junior formulae. The team joined the Italian Formula 3 Championship in 1984 and expanded internationally over the following years, eventually winning the Formula 3 Euro Series on its debut in 2003 with Ryan Briscoe and going on to claim virtually every European F3 title between 2011 and 2018. By the mid-2010s the team was operating across Formula 3 European, Italian Formula 4, ADAC Formula 4, and GP3, forming an integrated programme that covered multiple rungs of the FIA's junior ladder simultaneously. Major manufacturer programmes — Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes, Renault, Williams, and Toyota — all placed drivers with Prema during this period.
Prema entered the GP2 Series in 2016 and immediately delivered a result that set the tone for everything that followed. Red Bull Junior driver Pierre Gasly and Antonio Giovinazzi finished first and second in the championship standings in the team's debut season, a 1–2 that no team achieves without exceptional preparation and competitive machinery. The result announced Prema as an instant force at the top of the GP2 grid.
When the GP2 Series transitioned into the FIA Formula 2 Championship in 2017, Prema's ascent continued without interruption. Ferrari Driver Academy member Charles Leclerc drove for the team in that debut Formula 2 season, claiming seven wins and seven pole positions on his way to an emphatic early title. Leclerc's 2017 season was one of the most dominant in Formula 2 history and resulted in his promotion to the Sauber Formula 1 team for 2018.
The 2018 Formula 2 campaign saw Prema field Sean Gelael and Nyck de Vries. Mick Schumacher, who had won the FIA Formula 3 European Championship with Prema in 2018, was retained for the following Formula 2 season in 2019. Schumacher won the 2020 FIA Formula 2 Championship with the team, with Robert Shwartzman finishing fourth that same year. Shwartzman had himself been the 2019 FIA Formula 3 champion with Prema before graduating to Formula 2.
The GP2 and Formula 2 programme illustrated what distinguished Prema from other junior teams: the ability to take drivers who had won with the team in lower formulae and continue developing them into championships at the next level. Charles Leclerc, Mick Schumacher, Oscar Piastri — who won the 2021 FIA Formula 2 Championship with Prema — and others followed a path that ran through multiple Prema teams on their way to Formula 1. The team's connections with manufacturer academies, particularly Ferrari Driver Academy, gave it consistent access to the most highly rated young talent in European motorsport.
Prema's GP2 and Formula 2 record stands as one of the most productive in the championship's history. Multiple drivers who contested the series under the Prema banner went on to score Formula 1 wins, podiums, and championships. The team's ability to win immediately upon entering GP2 in 2016 and then sustain that level across the transition to Formula 2 reinforced its position as the benchmark junior team of its era. Prema subsequently expanded beyond junior single-seaters, entering the FIA World Endurance Championship and the IndyCar Series, while continuing to operate across every level of the FIA single-seater ladder.