F1: Shwartzman to drive FP1 at Zandvoort

Robert Shwartzman will make his season’s debut at the wheel of the Ferrari F1 SF-23 at Zandvoort this coming Friday.

The Scuderia test driver will use Carlos Sainz Jr.’s car for Friday’s first practice session, as per the rule that states that, at least once per season, each driver must give up his seat during a Friday session for a young driver.

Last year, Shwartzman drove the F1-75 in free practice for the United States Grand Prix in Austin and in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina.

“Robert will do Zandvoort in Carlos’ car, and he’ll do another one, probably Abu Dhabi, in Charles’ car,” said Ferrari F1 boss Fred Vasseur.

“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’s not an easy situation. But Carlos was [ok with] the idea.

“It’s not so easy to decide because definitely you can’t do it in Singapore, in Japan, in Las Vegas. Also, you have some sprint events in Austin, Qatar, so that you can’t do it.

“Then you have the races with the tire allocation a bit different, it’s also so tricky to do it. It means that at the end of the day, you don’t have so many options.”