The champion of the 2019 Formula 3 championship does not have any guaranteed place for next season, but he said that he will not be a third campaign in a row in the prelude to the highest category of motorsports.
The 22-year-old Russian faces his last appointment with the Prema team, with whom he has been able to place himself in second position in the general table, behind Oscar Piastri , after getting on the podium twice at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Shwartzman has been linked to the Italian structure since the 2018 season, when he joined the project. That year he was able to be third in F3, and he took the title just one season later, with three wins and a 54-point advantage over Marcus Armstrong.
In his debut as an F2 driver, he proved to be one of the most talented youngsters, and finished in fourth position, with up to four times on the top of the podium, the one who did it the most in 2020.
However, with his future at stake, Shwartzman will spend some of his time preparing for 2022 with the Ferrari team. The Russian is a member of the driver’s academy of the Maranello team, and it was confirmed that he would be at the controls of an Italian car in the F1 post-season tests in Abu Dhabi.
The St. Petersburger will be sitting in SF21 at Yas Marina, but it won’t be the only Grand Circus car he’ll test, as he’ll also get behind the wheel of the Haas VF-21 in the young drivers test on the Tuesday after the Grand Prix.
Shwartzman hopes that the work will bear fruit and he will have a place in Formula 1 from 2023 . The one from the Ferrari Drivers’ Academy said: “I can confirm that this will be my last year in F2. What I will do next season is something that is not clear to me yet, and it is uncertain for me.”
“I have some wishes and ideas, but he’s not sure. About my future, I can’t say anything because I don’t know myself,” said the Russian.
“I can only say that I will not participate in F2 anymore, and that this will be my last year with Prema. It has been an incredible journey of four campaigns since 2018. We will see what the future holds, but I can say that my goal is to reach F1 , and all my effort will be in that”, he explained.
