Montoya says he and PREMA are hungry for success after ‘rollercoaster’ results in 2025

Sebastián Montoya is keen for he and PREMA Racing to use their experience from last season to go and fight for the title in 2026.

The Colombian driver finished 12th in the 2025 Drivers’ Championship, achieving three podiums across the season. But returning for his second campaign in Formula 2, Montoya wants to go for more.

“It's a long season. But obviously, the goal is to win. That's why we do this,” said Montoya. “There's a lot of work to do, but we understand that if we want to do a good job, we just take it race by race.

“We want to win the championship. That's why we show up every weekend working our butts off. But I think even more than that, it's just we know who we are. I think that's the biggest thing.

“Our goal is every weekend, just maximise what we can. Instead of focusing so much on the end, we're just going to focus on what we can control right now, and then what's the next thing we have and just focus on that.

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“There's no point in trying to focus on Abu Dhabi when you haven't even done pre-season testing or trying to focus on Abu Dhabi when you have Australia, for example. So I think the important thing is just staying present in the team.”

Montoya does think he and PREMA have improved from this time last year, but he knows they have more work to do before the start of the campaign in Melbourne.

The 20-year-old says he is having “the time of my life” working with PREMA, as they “complement” each other, and he is keen for them to continue learning.

“I'm really looking forward to being back, first of all, in F2,” continued Montoya. “I think it's awesome. I learned a lot last year. I had a lot of good results.

“The end of the season was super strong. So for me, I really enjoyed it and I really wanted another shot, another opportunity, because in the end, this is what I love doing, and every time that I usually jump up category, I enjoy it even more.

“I just had a blast last year, I learned a lot. There were some hard times, but there were some very good times as well. But it was really a rollercoaster year where there was a lot learned.

“But I had the time of my life, and especially now, being back with PREMA again for my second season, it's awesome. I think last year, we built a really strong foundation in the first part of the season.

“Then in the second part of the season, we just maximised. There were some races that were quite difficult. But I think for this year, we've kind of learned from that. I would like to say that we've improved on that. But obviously, we need to hit the track first.”

Montoya was also asked what he feels he personally needs to do to take that next step to become a title contender. While he will look at things from a team perspective, he is also looking within himself as a way to improve.

“I think it's just trusting myself a little bit more,” he said. “I feel like I was super quick throughout the season, but there's obviously some mistakes I made here and there.

“But overall, I think the biggest wake up for me was realising that it's not rocket science where I'm going to the moon. The biggest thing is just kind of realising that you just do the work, you do what you can and then that's it.

“For me, the biggest wake up call, I'd have to say, was Baku running P2 in the Sprint, fighting with Dino for the win to having an issue and then slowly going back.

“Then on Sunday, being the quickest on the Option and kind of making my way bit by bit. I felt really confident for the Feature Race. Then obviously in the pit stop, we came into the pits P5, P6 and I exited P17, P16.

“That's like, it's one of those things where as a driver, it's really frustrating, but you also have to learn that that's F2. There are times it goes your way and there's times it doesn't, and last year I had a bit of that of both ways.”

Overall though, Montoya feels he has learned a lot from his first year in Formula 2 that he can take into his second. He knows better how to manage his time and to maximise his race weekends.

“I'd say the biggest thing I'm trying to improve from last season to this season is just maximising what I have,” he concluded. “If I have a car to qualify P8, I qualify P8. I'm not going to try to qualify P6 because that's when mistakes come.

“If I have a car to qualify on pole or in the front row, put it on the front row. But that's the biggest thing, and then for the races, it's just maximise what you have.

“I think my race pace is one of my strongest points. But I just want to focus race by race and just get on track and drive as fast as I can.

“It can be a little bit overwhelming though, especially with a doubleheader or tripleheader, these weekends are really difficult. I'm trying to manage that. Also, we have very busy schedules as well, we also have times with a lot of rest period, like after Australia, we have a month and a half to Bahrain.

“So obviously managing that as well, understanding what you need to focus on in that period, and I think with that experience, I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do this year.”