Frederik Vesti has been announced as the latest driver tasked with filling the shoes of PREMA Racing’s title winning trio, securing a seat with the F3 team for the 2020 season.

The Danish racer joins Logan Sargeant at the Italian squad and will be looking to emulate Robert Shwartzman, Marcus Armstrong and Jehan Daruvala, who helped PREMA to win the Teams’ Championship last season, finishing 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the Drivers’ standings.

The 17-year-old joins following a sensational 2019 campaign in which he won the Formula Regional European Championship. Vesti clinched the title following a season of dominance, taking 13 wins and 10 pole positions.

The Dane’s single-seater career began in 2016, in Formula Ford Denmark, before he went on to take second place in the Danish F4 Championship the following season. Success continued in 2018, with four wins in Italian and German F4, as well as his debut at the Macau Grand Prix, finishing P18.

Vesti’s relationship with PREMA began in 2019 when he moved to the Italian side for the newly created Formula Regional European Championship, which he won at the first attempt, before again competing in the FIA F3 World Cup in Macau. Racing for PREMA, Vesti quickly got up to speed with his new machinery and finished in an impressive 7th place.

“I am incredibly grateful to Prema for giving me this chance,” Vesti elated. “As drivers we are all dreaming of signing with Prema. Few of us get the chance. I’m perfectly aware of that. Every single step I took this year in the Formula Regional European Championship had one specific goal – to be preparing for Prema also in 2020.

“I love the team and the team environment and the effort that is put into every single little detail. I feel so welcomed and so ready to pay back the team in 2020 for making my Formula Regional Championship happen.

“Thank you to my personal team for taking me to where I’m now, for finding all the necessary funds and for developing me as a person. Thanks to my sponsors Give Steel, Hybel, Tapdrup Ejendomme, FK Tråd, BSM Reklame, DASU, Team DK og Racing for Denmark. Looking so much forward to showing the whole world what we can do together as a team also in 2020!”

His knowledge and chemistry with the PREMA team makes this the obvious next step for the young racer, who impressed the squad throughout 2019 campaign, and they will be hoping that he can hit the ground running when the season kicks off in Bahrain, in March.

On signing Vesti, Team Principal Rene Rosin said: "We are looking forward to seeing Frederik race in the 2020 FIA Formula 3 Championship. We are coming from a dominant season in the series, and we know it won't be easy to do it all again next year.

“That said, Frederik had an equally outstanding season in Formula Regional and we were impressed by his performances at Valencia and Macau. We are definitely excited to have him on board again. He is very talented and hard-working so I'm sure he will quickly become a key asset for the team.”