In the first free practice session of the Dutch Grand Prix, the Scuderia Ferrari will adhere to the sporting regulations by fielding their Russian test driver with Israeli citizenship, Robert Shwartzman, instead of Carlos Sainz. The young driver from the Maranello Academy will have another opportunity to showcase his skills after his debut last year during FP1 in Austin. The work done in the simulator has been invaluable, and the results achieved by the Prancing Horse in the sprint weekends are a testament to this. In the sprint format, teams have limited time to adjust the setups defined in the simulator, making it likely that the configurations decided upon virtually at the Maranello factory were indeed an excellent starting point in Azerbaijan, Austria, and Belgium. According to Robert Shwartzman himself, Friday will be an opportunity to assess the differences between the F1-75 and the SF-23 on the track.
For the Maranello-based team, Robert is becoming a special observer, especially in light of Carlos Sainz’s contractual position, which will be discussed next winter. The Russian driver won the Formula 3 championship in 2020 and was teammates with Oscar Piastri in Formula 2 in 2021, finishing the championship in second place just behind the Australian champion. He is probably not a part of the category of future world champions, but he could be the driver Ferrari is considering betting on for the medium-term future.
Unlike previous seasons, the Maranello team no longer has that kind of right of first refusal on one of the seats in the customer teams using their Power Units (Alfa Romeo and Haas).
This makes it truly complicated to evaluate the abilities of the young drivers from the Prancing Horse’s academy. The financial regulations also complicate matters for rookies, as teams are discouraged from investing in drivers with no experience in the top category of motorsport. The emblematic example is Mick Schumacher, who was ousted from the Haas team due to the many incidents he was involved in during 2022, which had an impact on the American team’s budget. While Fred Vasseur claims to have always provided the same support to his drivers throughout his long motorsport career, it is true that placing a young driver alongside the team’s “beacon” named Charles Leclerc could be an option worth considering. It would dispel any doubts about power dynamics, creating the conditions for a serene atmosphere within the team. In one of the recent statements from the French team principal, the drivers are the least of the problems. However, when the vehicle matches the reputation of Scuderia Ferrari, the driver issue could become the forefront, especially with “two roosters in the henhouse.”
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It’s certainly not a coincidence that the longest-lasting dominances in Formula 1 history were favored by a clear hierarchy among drivers, with the exception of Mercedes, which, buoyed by a significant advantage over the competition, allowed Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg to “compete” from 2014 to 2016. We will soon find out if the red team is genuinely considering Robert Shwartzman for 2025, or if the free practice sessions of the Dutch Grand Prix were merely a formality in compliance with the sporting regulations that require teams to field a rookie driver in two free practice sessions during the season.
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