Dutch Grand Prix 2023: Shwartzman to take part in Free Practice 1

Ferrari Team Principal Frédéric Vasseur has announced that their reserve driver Robert Shwartzman will be taking part in the FP1 session this weekend at the Dutch Grand Prix.

Shwartzman, who has been a Ferrari Driver Academy member since 2017, will drive Carlos Sainz’s SF23.

This won’t be Shwartzman’s first F1 running, as he has taken part in FP1 sessions for the team previously as well.

Also read: Dutch Grand Prix 2023: Race Preview

Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal, Ferrari, said:

“Robert will do [the FP1 running] Zandvoort in Carlos’ car, and he will do another one – probably Abu Dhabi in Charles’ car. Because it was the choice of the driver, I gave them the choice to do it, where they want to do it. I know that it is not an easy situation but Carlos… it’s not so easy to decide.

“[Because] for sure you can’t do it in Singapore, in Japan, or in Las Vegas. Also, you have some Sprint events in Austin, Qatar, also that you can’t do it. Then you have the races with tyre allocation, a bit different, so it is also tricky to do it, meaning at the end of the day you don’t have so many options.“

Vasseur also clarified as to why Shwartzman would be running instead of Oliver Bearman or Arthur Leclerc:

“They [Bearman and Leclerc] have to be focused on the F2 championship. And we will try to give them opportunities of testing on the 2021 car or something else before the end of the season, but I want to push them to stay focused on the F2 championship.“