Ferrari test driver Robert Shwartzman will step in for Carlos Sainz in Friday's Dutch Grand Prix FP1 as the Scuderia fulfills its regulatory obligation to run a rookie in at least two FP1 sessions this season.
A long-standing member of the Ferrari Driver Academy, Shwartzman was handed a testing and development driver role with the Italian outfit at the start of 2022, having finished second in the FIA Formula Championship in 2022.
The 23-year-old enjoyed FP1 outings last year with Ferrari in Austin and in Abu Dhabi as part of the team's 'young driver' obligations.
"Robert will do Zandvoort in Carlos' car, and he will do another one – probably Abu Dhabi – in the Charles' [Leclerc] car," revealed Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur.
So far, no team has run a rookie this season in FP1 as part of F1's mandatory young driver rule.
However, Oscar Piastri (McLaren), Logan Sargeant (Williams) and Nyck de Vries (AlphaTauri) all qualified as rookies at the start of the season, meaning that their respective teams only need to fulfil one more FP1 slot with a young driver between now and the end of the year.
©Ferrari
Vasseur admitted that accommodating its rookie schedule was not easy given a variety of constraints associated with several venues.
"I know that it’s not an easy situation, but Carlos was very direct," added the Ferrari boss.
"It’s not so easy to decide because for sure you can’t do it in Singapore, in Japan, in Las Vegas, and also you have some sprint events in Austin, Qatar and so that you can do it.
"Then you have the races with the tyre allocation a bit different. It’s also tricky to do it. But it means that at the end of the day you don’t have so many options."
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