This time, Robert Shwartzman wants to make it happen

Fourth of F2 in 2020 for his first season at this level, Robert Shwartzman had an extremely solid campaign within the Italian structure Prema. With four victories, no one has won as much as him. “It was a pretty positive rookie season, explains the Russian in a video interview published by Prema. But I'm not completely satisfied yet. I have the feeling that I could have done an even better job, and at least fought for the title until the end. For multiple reasons, we lost a lot of points and races in the second half of the season. But that’s in the past, and this year, I hope to put everything together to get the championship.”

This year, the FIA ​​champion F3 2019 will continue the adventure with Prema. That’s good for him, since the team led by René Rosin won both titles awarded in F2 last year. So obviously, the Russian is a legitimate candidate for the title of champion, even if he doesn't really want this label. “I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself or for people to have too many expectations of me, he told us a few weeks ago. Certainly, I have the experience of 2020, but it will not be an additional pressure. I just want to focus on what I need to do and get good results.” And when he was asked, that same day, if he necessarily had to win F2 to claim a seat in F1, he did not hide: “Yes, there aren’t a thousand ways to get there. We must win !"

 “We’re going to have to play strategic! »

Although Shwartzman is starting to know the championship well, he does not underestimate the impact of the season's new features. Starting with the new format, which increased the number of meetings to eight instead of twelve, and especially the number of races per weekend from two to three. “It’s going to be more difficult, that’s for sure! We will have to play more intelligently and strategically with two races in reverse grids. Despite everything, qualifying will remain very important, as will race pace. You will have to be intelligent in the fight and know how to balance between pushing hard and playing strategically. »

The pilot of the Ferrari Driver Academy will have to be wary of the competition, made up of highly talented repeaters, like Christian Lundgaard, Felipe Drugovich and Dan Ticktum. But also promising rookies such as Theo Pourchaire or his teammate Oscar piastri, outgoing FIA F3 champion. “I’m very happy that we’re teaming up together this year. He is a very strong driver, who will motivate me enormously and make me work hard. I will give everything to beat him. I think the competition will be interesting between us. » That's good, the first act will take place this weekend in Bahrain, with qualifying on Friday (14:30 p.m.), the two sprint races on Saturday (11:25 a.m. and 17:40 p.m.) and the main race on Sunday (11:50 a.m.).