During the first practice session for the GP of the Netherlands, Carlos Sainz hands over the wheel to test and reserve driver Robert Shwartzman. This gives Shwartzman a unique opportunity to make extra F1 kilometers.
Shwartzman is a Russian-Israeli rider and that has caused discussion in the past, especially given his Russian background. At Ferrari, however, they have decided to give Shwartzman another chance to drive F1 miles this coming weekend. Every regular driver during an F1 season must give up his steering wheel to a young and less experienced driver during at least one practice session.
It is striking that no team has yet met this requirement this season. The simple reason for that is that most teams only allow their regular drivers to sacrifice a Friday practice session towards the end of the season. Shwartzman also got the chance from Ferrari last year to take action.
Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur says that they let Carlos Sainz choose when he would give up his steering wheel during a practice session. The choice of the Spaniard ultimately fell on Zandvoort.
Robert I am very excited to be driving the SF-23 after having worked on its development in the simulator.@ShwartzmanRob will be back behind the wheel this weekend for FP1 #DutchGP pic.twitter.com/AdGHOfVBPa
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) August 23, 2023