Finlay McSporran
Published: 11:03 11 February 2026
Outside of Formula 1, very few teams can come close to the depth, legacy, and success of Prema Racing.
The Italian outfit has teams in Formula 4, Formula regional, F1 Academy, Formula 3, and Formula 2, all of which have generally been at or near the front. They have also competed in other series, such as WEC and IndyCar, and have fielded some great drivers such as Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri and Oliver Bearman to name a few.
However, the team appears to be in trouble, with a noticeable drop in performances, key personnel leaving, and increasing doubt on whether they will be able to compete in IndyCar this year.
A False Dawn
“Today’s announcement marks a pivotal moment in the history of Prema Racing. We have tremendous respect for INDYCAR, its unique challenges and sensational history, and we look forward to being part of it.”
Those were the words of former (we’ll get to that later) Prema Racing team principal Rene Rosin, when the team announced their entry into IndyCar for the 2025 season.
This was probably the biggest endeavour in the teams 40-year history, and there was a huge opportunity here. If done well, it could put the team truly on the international stage, and give them another competitive platform for their drivers and engineers to race in.
The initial signs looked good, with a couple of top 10 finishes, and a memorable first pole at Indianapolis.
With the power of hindsight however, it would appear that the financial cost of running a season long IndyCar programme was too much too soon for Prema.
Most experts agree that Prema will likely miss some, possibly all, of the IndyCar races this year.
In an article for The Race, IndyCar reporter Jack Benyon said: “without an influx of cash and a hiring spree, I think it will be a massive struggle to get on the grid at all in 2026.”
The team still have Callum Ilott and Robert Shwartzman contracted for 2026, however neither of them have shown any signs of IndyCar action in 2026, with Ilott having signed a contract to race for Porsche in IMSA this year.
IndyCar allows up to 27 cars to compete at each event, 25 of which were chartered for the entire season last year. Prema’s cars weren’t chartered as they were a new team, but did manage to compete in every race in 2025.
IndyCar President Doug Boles intended for Prema to be included in the charter this year, however that hasn’t happened.
The team is apparently looking for buyers, but it looks increasingly unlikely that those two extra cars (whoever ends up owning them) will be on the grid for the first race in St. Petersburg in 18 days.
Departure of the Rosin Family
Prema was founded in 1983 by Angelo Rosin, father of Rene (pictured above). Ever since then the Rosin family have taken care of the day to day running of the team.
They have oversaw the development of some of the worlds best drivers today, with Oscar Piastri, Charles Leclerc, Kimi Antionelli, Oliver Bearman and Lance Stroll just some of the drivers who won various single-seater title’s with Prema.
That’s what makes their announcement to leave the team so alarming.
Why would a family that has brought so much to the world of motorsport want to leave the team that they had built up?
The timing is certainly no coincidence. With the financial struggles brought about by IndyCar, one could assume that their investors, DC Racing Solutions, might have been frustrated with the Rosins leadership.
Furthermore, rumours of the team failing to pay bills in IndyCar last season, as well as reports of a court case between themselves and technical partners Lamborghini over an apparent data breach, haven’t done much to improve the picture.
These are only rumours of course, but one thing is for sure – The team may operate under the same name, but the people F1 teams and sponsors trusted to deliver results are no longer there. Prema will certainly never be the same again.
Trouble Back Home
It seems that Prema’s North American problems have started to tip over into their feeder series operations in Europe.
The feeder series has been the bread and butter of Prema’s success, however their results have started to stagnate a little bit.
The team struggled to get to grips with the new Formula 2 car introduced in 2024, and also struggled with the new Formula 3 car last year, failing to mount a title challenge in either category.
The reason for that is likely just the team struggling to understand a new machinery at first, which perfectly reasonable.
However, news broke last week that Enzo Deligny, who was meant to be racing for Prema’s F3 team in 2026, was switching to Van Amersfoort’s F3 team. This is because Jesse Carrasquedo pulled put of his Van Amersfoort drive for unknown reasons.
Historically, pulling out of a seat at Prema for a drive at Van Amersfoort would have been ludicrous. But such is Prema’s downfall (and Van Amersfoort’s rise) that this actually an upgrade for Deligny, if last seasons results are anything to go by.
Financial issues aside, the fact that not only Deligny, but other title favourites such as Freddie Slater and Ugo Ugochukwu are looking elsewhere (Trident and Campos) shows how far down the theoretical pecking order Prema’s fallen.
Combine that with the teams financial difficulties, and it paints a grim picture. It’s a scenario we have seen in the past, most recently with Carlin’s financial trouble’s and there takeover by Rodin.
Hopefully Prema can get through this rough period, although a buyout seems increasingly likely given their apparent financial troubles from North America.
Categories:
Blog GP 
Leave a comment