Shwartzman: Historic FP1 outing with Ferrari 'a great honour'

Robert Shwartzman will become on Friday at COTA the first rookie driver in F1's modern history to take part in a practice session with Ferrari, and the young gun sees the privilege as "a great honour".

So far, the Scuderia has never entrusted one of its F1 cars to a member of its Ferrari Driver Academy to showcase his skills in a practice session on a race weekend.

But F1's rule this year that mandates the use of rookie drivers on at least two occasions this season during FP1 has handed Shwartzman a "special" opportunity.

"Two thousand twenty-two has been a very different year for me as it was planned that I would not race in any championships," he said.

"Instead, I am working full-time for the Scuderia, doing a lot of work in the simulator and I am very happy to have been part of this year’s team effort.

"The experience I have gained this year has taught me a lot, and helped me become a more complete racing driver.

"Debuting in an official F1 session with Scuderia Ferrari is a great honour and to be the first driver to have this opportunity after so many years makes what I will do on Friday really special.

"I am obviously thrilled but at the same time I am also very keen to drive this car for the first time and see how close the work we’ve been doing in the simulator is to reality".

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The 23-year-old Israeli-Russian charger will replace Charles Leclerc in Friday's 60-minute session.

While Shwartzman has tested multiple times with the Scuderia in the past, mainly at Fiorano, he will enjoy on Friday his first laps at The Circuit of the Americas in Austin.

But the former FIA Formula 2 race winner has undergone a thorough preparation.

"The COTA track is a very interesting and quite challenging," Shwartzman said.

"I have never driven on this track so this will be my first time there. I have prepared for it mainly on the simulator and I am really looking forward to driving on it for real".

Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies recently confirmed that Shwartzman's run in FP1 in Austin will be the first of two runs that he will enjoy this year, with his second outing expected to take place in Abu Dhabi next month.

Shwartzman won't be the only young rookie in action in FP1 at COTA with Logan Sargeant (Williams), Alex Palou (McLaren) and Théo Pourchaire (Alfa Romeo) also making their F1 debut on Friday.

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