Robert Shwartzman tells in an interview with the Italian branch of Motorsport about his role as Ferrari’s reserve driver. The Israeli Russian spends many hours in the simulator and is sometimes asked for advice from Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. The 22-year-old will also be in action in two sessions this season during two first free practice sessions.
Shwartzman has been part of the as a driver for five years Academy from Ferrari and competed in Formula 2 last year. Since December last year, Shwartzman has disappeared from the radar, but he reappeared at the Mugello circuit in mid-July, where he took part in a long test behind the wheel of the Ferrari SF21 . The Ferrari reserve driver said: “It was a very nice and important day for me, I think the test was also positive for the team as we did a lot of laps.”
He continues: ‘I mainly wanted to understand if the work of the simulator, as well as the physical preparation, would eventually work, and I have to say I was very pleased with what came out. I did my part by completing the program Ferrari gave me, and in the end it was a very important test, difficult but also interesting. I did a dozen tests behind the wheel of Formula 1 cars, but the Mugello test was one of the most demanding because it was not easy physically to be able to do all those laps after a five-month break. Mugello, as I said, is a demanding track and I think the simulator helped me a lot in gaining confidence in the car.”
‘Leclerc and Sainz sometimes ask for advice’
Shwartzman has been busy this year working in the simulator. He says that Sainz and Leclerc sometimes ask him for advice. “This year my duties are a little different from previous years. At the start of the season it was agreed with Ferrari that as the team’s test driver I would have to spend a lot of time in the simulator and to make sure I could take full advantage of it I had to be fully involved in this process, without to participate in any championship.’
“During the Formula 1 race weekends, my role is that of race support. We work in Maranello as long as we need it. The simulator is like a third car, a virtual one of course, driving in free practice. When we get the data from the track during the race weekends, I’ll take care of the correlations and do some testing. Sometimes Sainz and Leclerc ask questions about what I think is best, for example about two solutions. It’s a team effort.’
