PREMA’s IndyCar rookie season is No Fluke

PREMA came into the 2025 season as the newest team, with the current season being their first one. The team announced Robert Shwartzman and Callum Ilott as their lineup for the season, with Romain Grosjean as their reserve driver.

The team has done exceptionally well for their debut season in the championship with multiple Top 10 finishes for its drivers, and it is no fluke. Let's have a detailed look at the team's debut season.

PREMA Racing's Motorsports heritage

PREMA Racing is an Italian Motorsports team formed in the 1980s and has raced in multiple open-wheel racing series, including the junior Formula series and professional karting series. The Italian team has fielded multiple F2 champions, including Charles Leclerc, Mick Schumacher, and Oscar Piastri, who have made it to the F1 grid.

It's 2024 F2 drivers Oliver Bearman and Kimi Antonelli also made it to the F1 grid this year. Although the Italian stable was new to the IndyCar scene, the team has had a decade of experience racing in single-seater spec series. The racing experience, along with the technical experience possibility, helped them during their debut season.

Michael Cannon joined PREMA ahead of their debut season

Michael Cannon, vastly regarded as the Adrian Newey of IndyCar, joined PREMA ahead of the 2025 season. Cannon worked with AJ Foyt Racing in the previous season, helped his previous team sign a technical partnership with Team Penske, and brought AFR to the front of the midfield.

NTT INDYCAR Series BITNILE.com Grand Prix of Portland - Source: Getty

Although Michael Cannon left the team midway through the current season, even his little tenure at the Italian team would've massively helped the processes and technical knowledge of the other staff.

Callum Ilott on PREMA finding pace as the season progressed

PREMA Racing had a difficult start to their debut IndyCar season, with the team struggling with pitstops, one-lap pace, and the pace over a race distance. However, the team improved as a unit over the season and is now a challenger for a Top 10 finish. Speaking about the same, Callum Ilott said,

“When you start off, you have to find your feet, and especially with a new team, where everything's been bought and brand new, it's not the easiest, and we had a few loops to jump through.”

“Once we started to get things figured out, the general race pace has really been there and quite a lot of common sense has to be applied to things and we found the rhythm from there, and were able to work with the damper guys to get more and more out of it. And here we are,” he added

Robert Shwartzman’s performance this season

Robert Shwartzman previously drove for PREMA in the F3 series and won the championship in 2019. He joined the IndyCar team ahead of the season and made his IndyCar debut. The Israeli-Russian driver has performed exceptionally well, considering 2025 was his debut season.

Shwartzman currently sits 24th in the championship with two Top 10 finishes at Iowa Speedway and Gateway. However, the highlight of the season for the PREMA Racing driver was the pole position at the iconic Indy 500.

109th Running Of The Indianapolis 500 - Practice and Previews - Source: Getty

The Israeli-Russian driver was also a part of the Ferrari academy and had been a reserve driver for the Scuderia. With two races to go, Shwartzman is only 6 points behind Louis Foster in the championship and is a contender for the rookie of the season award.

Callum Ilott's performance in the 2025 season

Callum Ilott has been racing in IndyCar for nearly five seasons and made the move from Arrow McLaren to PREMA for this season. While Illot didn't get off to a great start this season, he's had strong form in the last three races.

Ilott had finished the last three races at Toronto, Laguna Seca, and Portland inside the Top 10. The British driver finished the Indy Toronto, Grand Prix of Monterey, and Grand Prix of Portland in P8, P6, and P6, respectively.