Photo: Prema
Prema’s Colombian protege Salim Hanna Hernandez will step up from Formula 4 to the Formula Regional European Championship next year.
The 16-year-old joined Prema’s karting division during 2023 after it had been launched at the beginning of that year, and has remained with the Italian outfit ever since.
He stepped up from junior to senior karting in 2024, made his single-seater debut at the end of that year then has been busy in 2025 racing in F4. Hanna is also a long-time protege of former Formula 1 and IndyCar star Juan Pablo Montoya.
“I want to thank God, my family, and Prema for the opportunity [to step up FREC],” said Hanna.
“I’m very happy to do one more year with the team and to go up to FREC. This will be a good step in my career, and the preparations have been going really well. I’m doing everything I can, working hard and learning as much as I can to put everything in place and get the job done next year.”
In the senior OK class of karts with Prema, Hanna came third in WSK’s Champions Cup and was fifth in the Super Masters Series standings. He also came 10th in Champions of the Future, 12th in the CIK-FIA European Championship and 20th in the CIK-FIA World Championship.
The United Arab Emirates-based Formula Trophy was where he got his first car racing experience a year ago, and Hanna was seventh in the standings. He built on that circuit experience in F4 Middle East at the start of 2025, where he was sixth in the points table, then he headed to Europe for a double programme there.
Hanna claimed pole for his Italian F4 debut, and six podiums over the course of the season put him fourth overall in the championiship and made him the top rookie as in the Middle East. In the sister E4 championship, Hanna was seventh in the standings with one podium.
“We are delighted to see Salim continue his career with the team after joining back in his karting days,” Prema’s team principal Rene Rosin said.
“He had an impressive rookie season. He was quick and consistent from the start and made further progress, achieving remarkable overall results in addition to the rookie wins. FRegional is a challenging step, but we will do our best to support Salim in making the transition with the goal of achieving more success.”
Hanna will be moving up the single-seater ladder with race wins to his name, since he joined the British F4 paddock this summer for two events with Virtuosi Racing. In the first he broke his victory duck and scored enough points to come 19th in the standings, then in the F1-supporting non-championship round he took pole then victory and fastest lap in both races.