Salim Hanna (full name Salim Hanna Hernández, born 20 November 2009) is one of the youngest drivers in the FIA single-seater paddock — a Colombian teenager who made a fleeting FIA Formula 3 debut in 2026 while still cutting his teeth in the junior categories, carrying the backing of a national racing legend.
The climb
Hanna began karting at the age of seven and was taken under the wing of his compatriot Juan Pablo Montoya, the former Formula 1 and IndyCar star and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner, who has acted as a mentor. He delivered on that early promise on the international karting stage, winning the WSK Open Cup and the Trofeo delle Industrie in the OK-Junior class in 2022. In 2023 he joined Prema's karting division and has remained with the storied Italian outfit ever since — a relationship that has shaped his entire car-racing career.
Formula 4
Hanna stepped into single-seaters at the end of 2024 with the Prema-run Mumbai Falcons entry in the Formula Trophy UAE, taking a best of fourth at Yas Marina. His first full season came in 2025 with Prema, and it was a strong one: in the Italian F4 Championship he took pole on debut and racked up six podiums to finish fourth overall and, crucially, as the top rookie — the form that earned his promotion. He also contested the sister E4 series (seventh, one podium) and the British F4 Championship, where he scored his maiden single-seater win at Thruxton and then swept both races at the British Grand Prix-supporting Silverstone round.
Formula 3
Hanna's Formula 3 involvement in 2026 came not as a full campaign but as a part-time substitute appearance: he stepped in for the injured Brad Benavides at AIX Racing for the Spielberg (Red Bull Ring) round, making his FIA F3 debut in only his second full season of car racing — an unusually accelerated step for a driver of his age.
2026 / temporada actual
His main 2026 programme is the Formula Regional European Championship with Prema Racing, to which he was promoted as the reigning Italian F4 rookie champion — the conventional next rung below F3. As one of the youngest names on any FIA grid and a genuine early-career prospect, Hanna's record is still very much being written, but the combination of Montoya's guidance, Prema's machinery and a precocious junior CV marks him out as a Colombian talent to track closely in the years ahead.