Ferrari will fulfill one of the two mandatory weekends where a Formula 1 team is required to field a driver who has competed in no more than 2 races in the World Championship.
Robert Shwartzman, reserve driver for Scuderia Ferrari, will participate in the Free Practice 1 session of the Dutch Grand Prix, scheduled for this Friday at the Zandvoort circuit.
The Russian-Israeli driver will replace Carlos Sainz Jr. and will be teammates with Charles Leclerc in the session that marks the start of the second half of the 2023 Formula 1 season after the summer break.
“I’m excited to get behind the wheel of the SF-23 after having worked on its development in the simulator,” said Robert Shwartzman a few days before his debut in the 2023 Red car. “Driving a Formula 1 car during a World Championship race weekend is something truly special and of which to be very proud, especially when you represent Scuderia Ferrari, the team that has supported me throughout my career.”
“Before the summer break, I had a half-day of testing at Fiorano and regained confidence with the cockpit, as it had been quite a while since I drove a single-seater. Even though the car was an SF21, very different from the SF-23 and with 13-inch tires, it was still a very useful session to prepare for these free practices at Zandvoort. It will be interesting for me to have the opportunity to get into this year’s car and compare it with last year’s F1-75.”
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Robert Shwartzman’s utilization might seem like a waste of time, with Carlos Sainz being forced to skip one of the three practice sessions used to best prepare the cars for qualifying and Sunday’s race. However, it was Carlos Sainz who chose to give up his seat, and more importantly, Robert Shwartzman will be beneficial to the team for the type of work he will perform.
“As for me, I will do my utmost to help the team as much as possible by completing the work plan, which is designed to extract the maximum from the car both in terms of setup and data collection, which will be useful to the team for the second part of the season. There is indeed a development program going on behind the scenes at the Maranello simulator, which needs as much data as possible to proceed more vigorously.”
Meanwhile, Robert Shwartzman has already familiarized himself with the Dutch track through several sessions on the simulator at Maranello. Here are the Russian’s impressions of the track where, for the past two years, Red Bull has dominated.
“Zandvoort is one of the most challenging tracks on the Formula 1 calendar, and I have only physically driven on it once before the circuit was modified, so it will all feel very new to me. Based on the simulator experience, I can say it’s extremely demanding, with corners characterized by significant banking, some of which can be approached with different lines, and it’s also demanding on the car as it pushes it to the limit in various aspects. Despite being quite complex, it’s also a very interesting track from a pure driving perspective, so I look forward to having a lot of fun next Friday.”
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