PREMA Powerteam captured multiple podium finishes at Monza, home to the final round of the 2021 Italian Formula 4 Championship. After struggling in the opening qualifying session, Kirill Smal delivered a positive rebound. The 16-year-old Russian scored points in all three races with a second place as his weekend-high result. Smal finished third overall in the driver standings.
Sebastian Montoya ended up just short of the same goal. The Colombian-American posted a highly-positive points finish in race 1, despite starting from the middle of the pack due to a grid penalty. He then cruised to P2 in race 2, but spun out of race 3, which was held on a slightly damp track with slick tyres. Only at his third career start in single-seaters, Andrea Kimi Antonelli showed outstanding form with a triple podium finish overall and P2 in race 1. The 15-year-old Italian also harvested three rookie wins in different weather conditions.
Conrad Laursen showed impressive potential with two points finishes in P7 and P8, but he was among the casualties of race 3, where he spun at the second chicane. Hamda Al Qubaisi, on the other hand, put up a brilliant qualifying effort, climbing up to P6 on the grid for race 3. After bringing home a top-10 overall in race 1, she suffered from early mishaps in race 2 and 3. In his second start with the team and in the Italian series, Frenchman Maceo Capietto bounced back from a troubled qualifying, securing two rookie podiums, including a 9th place overall in race 3.
#5 - Maceo Capietto
"After a difficult qualifying, we expected to come back for sure because we had the pace to fight for the top-10. It has been a pretty good weekend overall, with a ninth-place overall. I gained a lot of experience in terms of driving, now we have to keep working and prepare for next year."
#6 - Sebastian Montoya
"First of all, I want to say thank you to the team, my sponsors, family, fans who supported me during the season. Last year has been really difficult, but this year we improved a lot. From the first race in Paul Ricard, to even now, it has been just a huge learning curve, learning every time I jump into the car, knowing I have the speed. Obviously, we didn't get the win and that's a bit on me. It's been such a good experience this year, I really enjoyed it."
#7 - Kirill Smal
"I think race 3 was the toughest race of my life. I had to be in front of my teammate and see where he finished taking P3 in the championship. In the end, I got informed that he was out, so I had to bring it home but was very hard emotionally. Overall we did a good job this weekend. We scored points in every race, even when we were starting out of the top-20 we finished P6. These finishes eventually helped us to take third place overall. I'm happy about how the weekend went, it was an up and down season, but rebounded with a good result at the end, which is the most important thing."
#20 - Conrad Laursen
"It was looking good for the rookie championship until the last three laps of race 3. The car in front missed the corner a bit, I tried to go around the outside, there was a lot of water and I just missed the grip and spun around. It has been a tough season with a lot to learn. My pace is always really good in practice, we need to carry it over to qualifying and improve on all the small details that make the difference."
#88 - Hamda Al Qubaisi
"I'm really happy about the qualifying, then the weather became unpredictable, and that changed the outlook of the whole event for me. I need more practice in wet conditions, and I'll work on that for the coming season. Overall it was very tough in the races. I had good starts, but I didn't quite keep the pace in the beginning. I'm happy for the qualifying and for starting at the front end of the pack. Thank you to Prema and to my sponsors Abu Dhabi Racing, Strata, and Kaspersky for their support. I enjoyed this season a lot, and I hope for a good one next year too."
#99 - Andrea Kimi Antonelli
"This weekend was really good. The most important thing was that I gained a lot of experience, with three really different track conditions in three races. The dry wasn't new to me, but the wet and damp conditions enabled me to understand a lot especially on slick tires and improve myself, getting more confidence. I'm really happy about how it went, we have been strong since qualifying and fought for the lead in all races. That is for sure positive and a good motivation for the coming year."