Robert Shwartzman reveals challenges faced driving Ferrari SF-23 car in FP1 at Zandvoort

Difficult Friday Morning for Ferrari
The first free practice session of the 2023 Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix proved to be quite challenging for Ferrari, with both of its drivers placed in the lower half of the rankings. While Charles Leclerc finished in 16th position, the new addition of the day, Robert Shwartzman, promoted by the Maranello team in place of Carlos Sainz to allow him to take part in one of the mandatory sessions for the season as per F1’s requirement to give space to rookie drivers, fared even worse.

The Israeli, Ferrari’s third driver, only managed the 19th position, practically at the bottom of the group due to the absence of a time from Lance Stroll. Behind these difficulties, however, there were setup changes already planned and scheduled by Ferrari for the Zandvoort practices, further complicating the session for the young talent from Maranello.

Robert Shwartzman’s comments
Explaining the major challenges faced on the track was Robert Shwartzman himself, who discussed Ferrari’s work with Sky Sport F1: “Coming here, I already knew that the session would be mostly about setup and aerodynamic adjustments, not focusing on performance,” he stated. “Therefore, I couldn’t expect the car to be in qualifying mode, especially because the changes made were quite significant to gather data. This made the car behave ‘poorly’ because the rear was really unstable, and I had to struggle. Moreover, Zandvoort is a very tricky track, so it was complex to put together consistent laps. It was a challenge for me in some ways, but on the other hand, we followed the entire planned program, completed all the laps we had in mind, and gathered data. I hope this can help the team, and the next time I do FP1, I hope we can focus more on performance.”

Few differences between simulator and reality
In conclusion, Robert Shwartzman provided positive feedback about the similarities between his sensations in the simulator while preparing for FP1 and what he felt driving the actual SF-23: “There weren’t many differences between simulator work and today’s experience,” he added. “I understood from the simulator that driving the real car would be very challenging. Personally, I would have liked to have more fun with a more stable car, but the team’s priority was to try these modifications.” The 2018 F3 champion, a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy since 2017, will still have the opportunity to make up for it in Abu Dhabi on Friday, November 24th, during the last first free practice session of the 2023 Formula One season.

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