Ferrari junior Robert Shwartzman expresses his confidence in being fully prepared to participate in the FIA World Endurance Championship behind the wheel of a Ferrari 499P. Following his impressive performance during the rookie test last weekend at Bahrain International Circuit, where he clocked the fastest lap at 1:48.559, the Ferrari Formula 1 reserve driver is content with his showing on the overall leaderboard.
Having made his debut in sports car racing with AF Corse in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup this year, securing a victory in the final race, Robert Shwartzman believes he has grasped the essentials of sports car racing and doesn’t feel compelled to make a return. While harboring aspirations to transition into a full-time WEC seat next year, Robert Shwartzman clarifies that no official program has been confirmed at this juncture.
My aim [next year] is to do something different,” – the Ferrari F1 reserve driver explained in a recent discussion with the media following his test day – “Even now in the test, I think I’ve shown enough that I’m fully ready for that car. I have zero doubt about it. I am generally very quick to adapt to anything, like when I did the IndyCar test I was straight on the moment. With FE also when we did the Berlin test, I was very good there. So for me, it doesn’t require much time. I’m a very quick learner and I’m proud of [it]. I did a season in GT3 and got a feel for endurance and know more or less how things work. I don’t need another year; I don’t see anything that I will learn more than I have already now. My ambition and target is to obviously step up next year.” – he explained.
Robert Shwartzman’s potential debut season in the WEC hinges on his schedule availability, given his ongoing role as Ferrari’s Formula 1 test and reserve driver. The Italian side has indicated its readiness to back a third Hypercar in the WEC, with the stipulation that it would likely need to be a customer-driven initiative, in accordance with the rules set by the series.
“I don’t know about the third car, will they do it or will they not? If they do then I really hope they will consider me. But I generally hope that, especially after this test, I have shown what I am [and] that I’m ready and that I am quick to learn anything. That they are going to be interested. I’m not saying that I’m leaving GT3 racing. I’m just saying that I want more. I don’t want to stop – we still need to speak and discuss – but we [will] see how much time I have. I’m also a reserve driver in F1 and it requires quite a bit of time. So we need to look at the calendar and if we’re going to squeeze anything in.” – the Ferrari junior added.
Robert Shwartzman had a limited half-day session in Ferrari’s LMH simulator as part of his preparation for the Bahrain test. Despite only having three hours of sleep, he participated in the rookie test after flying in from Sao Paulo, where he was on standby duties for Formula 1.
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The Russo-Israeli racing driver has been juggling a hectic schedule, having been at the Mexico City Grand Prix the week before and taking part in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship pre-season test in Valencia just prior to that: “Performance and feeling wise it was very good. It was 30 laps, but in this short amount of time I managed to straight away get along with the car. I think we’re quite good friends now.” – he continued.
Despite the limited time behind the wheel, Ferrari provided its Driver Academy member with various tire scenarios to evaluate: “The target was for me to get along with the car and see how quickly I can [adapt]. The speed was very quick and they wanted just to show me different stages of grip this car can give. So the late race when you have completely killed tires, mid-stint, beginning of the race and quali, which was on new mediums. On all of the four runs we did, I had a taste of each [type of] running. All of them felt pretty good and quite manageable from my side.” – Robert Shwartzman concluded.
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