The last season of Formula 2 crowned the Australian driver Oscar Piastri as the new champion of the category, immediately followed in the standings by the Russian Robert Shwartzman. In a seemingly absurd way, the top two finishers in the Formula 1 cadet series will not have the opportunity to make their Formula 1 debut in 2022, at least as official drivers.
While Oscar Piastri will continue his experience with Alpine, limiting himself, however, to the role of test driver and reserve driver, the situation is even more complicated for the Ferrari Driver Academy member, who has left Prema. Robert Shwartzman had already announced that he wanted to leave Formula 2 right at the end of the last season, confirming his desire not to continue in this series: “I can confirm – he said in December – that this was my last year in Formula 2. What I will do next year is not yet certain, and it is all unknown even to me. I have some desires and ideas, but they haven’t materialized yet. I can’t really say anything about my future now, because, I don’t know it. So, the only confirmation I can give you is that I will not take part in Formula 2, and this was my last year with Prema. It has been a great journey that lasted four years with this team, from 2018 until today” – he explained.
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With the line-up already complete for the 2022 Formula 1 season – which will see only Guanyu Zhou making the transition from Formula 2 to the main series, with Alfa Romeo – Robert Shwartzman’s main objective is therefore aimed at 2023, the year in which he hopes to be able to make his debut among the ‘greats’, exactly as Oscar Piastri will want to do. The 22-year-old Russian, moreover, will prepare to realize this dream with the opportunity to carry out further tests for Scuderia Ferrari after the post-season testing sessions already he completed back in December in Abu Dhabi, where he had divided his work between the Prancing Horse and the Haas. The member of the Ferrari Driver Academy specified his ambitions as follows: “We will see what the future holds – he added – but I can say that my goal and my attention will always be towards Formula 1, and I will focus on everything to achieve this. I just hope to have the opportunity, in a year, to finally arrive on the starting grid to race and fight against the best drivers.” – the Ferrari junior concluded.
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