Robert Shwartzman recounted to Motorsport Week on how it felt to clinch WEC victory for Ferrari and more about racing the #83 499P Hypercar.
Ferrari’s Formula 1 reserve driver has enjoyed the World Endurance Championship Hypercar experience for the first time and in all its glory.
Amidst the nine manufacturers in the top level WEC competition, the Ferrari driver drove in the #83 privateer-entered 499P Le Mans Hypercar.
Teammates Robert Kubica and Yifei Ye have joined him on a season filled with memories far and near.
This included his first win in the #83 in addition to his event debut at the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans which retired four hours from the end having fought in the lead battle.
“[In] the previous races, we were struggling quite a lot,” he said candidly.
“We were having a lot of issues coming up because obviously we’re all new, the team is new, the car is new.
“As the #83 crew, it’s been really, really strong.
“In all the races, we always were performing and showing strong pace.
“But in terms of result, we were always missing something, and especially the Le Mans situation really hurt us because we were leading for so long.
“So the US win was sort of like fresh air to us!
“It finally gave us the result that we were really pushing for and I believe we deserved.”
Circuit of the Americas was his best result since fourth place at the Qatar 1812 km season-opener.
The #83 survived Le Mans for 248 laps until a reliability problem hit after Shwartzman pitted and then smoke poured out his #83 Ferrari.
Familiarity being in the WEC paddock
Having climbed up the FIA single-seater ladder, Shwartzman not only finds himself familiar with the FIA rules but also with some of his rivals.
Taking on the WEC was his first full-season endurance campaign in a new Ferrari 499P having continued his role as a Ferrari F1 reserve driver.
Nevertheless, Shwartzman found comfort within the paddock as he bonded with the WEC.
“I’ve done different championships in my past, like F3, F2; it’s also FIA.
“For me, as a championship, the WEC is a really nice championship.
“It’s the biggest championship in the endurance world so for me it’s really nice to be there.
“There is a lot of similarities and actually familiar people that I knew from my junior seasons like from Formula 3 and stuff, so I think more or less it’s the same as I had in my past years in F3, F2.
“Obviously here, the rules are a bit different for the endurance and, but yeah overall quite similar.
“So I see myself quite familiar and it doesn’t really make a huge difference.
“For me it was more of a difference last year when I did the GT World Challenge because there were completely different rules, different people and everything was completely different.
“So that was more of a difference! Here in WEC, when you race for so long with FIA and being a reserve in F1, you see these people very, very often.
“And yeah, as I said, for me, it was quite kind of very straight away, like very familiar and comfortable with how the whole WEC programme is built.
Comparing driving F1 and Hypercar
Shwartzman is the only driver to have experienced a Hypercar and an F1 car in the same year.
One weekend before the Lone Star Le Mans, he drove during the opening free practice session at the Dutch Grand Prix.
Behind the wheel of Valtteri Bottas’ Sauber C44, it was far from his first time in a race weekend having taken part for Ferrari during 2022 and 2023.
At the 2023 Bahrain Rookie Test, he tested a Ferrari 499P and set the fastest lap time.
“Both cars are fun to drive in their own way,” he said.
“I think the Hypercar is more fun to drive in terms of allowing you to drive harsher on curbs, you can attack a bit differently the corners and generally in the fighting you know that the car is much stronger.
“Let’s say it’s a very strong car so if you have some hits and bumps, because I had some moments with other drivers, and it’s very resistant as a car and F1 is obviously completely different.
“In F1, the thing is more of a unique feeling of how fast it can go. The g-forces [gravitational forces] like the downforce it can generate.
“In terms of racing, obviously it’s much more fun than Hypercar in terms of battling and fighting because you can have proper close moments with some drivers without losing a race.
“In Formula 1, obviously any contact will destroy your race. So in F1, it’s more fun on the one-lap pace.
“But yeah, obviously both of them are very nice to drive in their own way.”
Managing the lead en route to COTA victory
Shwartzman had a prominent role to play in securing victory at COTA for the #83 AF Corse Ferrari.
Each driver drove a double-stint, and he was last in the hot seat to take the car to the chequered flag.
At the time, Toyota’s Kamui Kobayashi was penalised for overtaking in a yellow flag zone and so lost the lead, and fell behind the #83.
From the outside, Ferrari’s F1 reserve driver was under pressure by one of the WEC’s quickest drivers.
For Shwartzman however, his previous single-seater experience brought confidence.
“It was definitely not an easy stint,” he admitted.
“I was realising how fast Kobayashi was coming up.
“I’ve won many, many races in my career. And I know how it is to be leading the race and how to have some pressure from behind.
“So I’m happy that I have good experience with that.
“I knew that even if he’s going to come very closely, I knew how to defend myself and for him it would have been a very, very difficult challenge to overpass me, even though he would be behind.
“But also on that, I was sort of calculating how fast he’s coming [and] that he would probably not even arrive in time to attack.
“I’m happy that I had everything under control.
“I was just trying to actually manage my pace and the track limits, because that was the bigger thing to do.
“At the end, I found out that all of us were at the limit [three warnings per driver] with track limits… “
“It was really tricky to keep the car on track… to just not do a stupid mistake that could cost us the win.”
Significance of the COTA win
After the exciting closing phase of the Lone Star Le Mans, Shwartzman claimed victory for the #83 AF Corse Ferrari team.
He himself had not stood on the top step of a podium, excluding his AF Corse GTWC Endurance Cup commitments, since his 2021 Formula 2 season when he finished second in the standings.
“To win finally with Ferrari in the World Championship was really, really nice.
“I won with GT3 last year with them. We won the race in Barcelona.
“We now won in Austin, which is even cooler and nicer because it’s with a Hypercar.
“And yeah, then in the past I was winning with F2, F3 but at some point, I had two years where I didn’t race.
“That was also a tough period in my career, in my life.
“So it was definitely was redemption also for that and for Le Mans.
“When you win like this, it gives you a very, very special feeling. So it was really, really nice.”
Shwartzman gave a professional outlook on his motorsport experiences but also on the WEC Hypercar season.
He concluded by explaining what the main challenge was for AF Corse during the 2024 WEC.
“I think it was more of a challenge for our team to gather up things in a proper way.
“And I think in Austin, we finally showed ourselves who we are, how fast we are, how good we are, because we managed to put everything together.
“At the beginning, I think that was our main challenge from as a team – I would say – to put everything together. That was the biggest thing.”
READ MORE on the #83 AF Corse interview series with Yifei Ye on Friday 11 October
Robert Kubica: WEC success COTA restored same feelings as F1 2008 win
