Shwartzman completes 130 laps at Mugello in an SF21

Robert Shwartzman was back on track today at the Mugello circuit, driving last season’s SF21. It’s the second time this year that the Scuderia test driver has got behind the wheel of an F1 car, having driven a 2018 SF71H at Fiorano back in January. Overall, it was the eighth test session of his career, as part of the plan tailor-made for him to get as much experience as possible in the cockpit of a Formula 1 car.

A busy day. Robert, who also has Israeli nationality by virtue of being born near Tel Aviv, wore the colours of that country for the first time today. He took to the track shortly after 9am carrying out some car set-up work and then continued with the day’s programme, running various fuel levels, simulating both qualifying and race runs. This meant he was able to assess on track the same conditions he regularly works with on the simulator. Over the course of the day, at the Ferrari-owned circuit in Tuscany, he completed 130 laps, a distance of 681 kilometres.

Valuable experience. Today was very useful for Robert as he is due to drive in at least two free practice sessions at Formula One World Championship events this season, as per the regulations. It was also valuable training for other Scuderia personnel. The crew working at Maranello today was made up of a mix of very experienced mechanics and engineers, working alongside youngsters training in Maranello, with currently only limited trackside experience.