SHWARTZMAN OFFICIALLY SIGNED AS PIASTRI’S F2 TEAMMATE

Robert Shwartzman officially signed as Oscar Piastri’s F2 teammate – Photo: Suttons

It has been confirmed that the Prema Racing team has re-signed Russian ace Robert Shwartzman for the 2021 FIA Formula 2 Championship alongside Australian Oscar Piastri.

By DAN McCARTHY

Piastri was officially signed by the Italian team last week after winning the FIA Formula 3 Championship several months ago, it was expected that he would work alongside Shwartzman in the F2 garage in 2021.

Like Piastri, Shwartzman also won the F3 championship with Prema back in 2018 before making the step up into F2 this season.

Shwartzman led the F2 Championship for several rounds and took more race wins than any other driver in 2020, however a mid-season slump brought on by poor qualifying performances saw the 21-year-old finish fourth in the standings.

“I am happy to race in Formula 2 with PREMA again in 2021,” said Shwarztman. “Our target as a team is obviously to win and make progress in terms of results from this season, working hard, improving the car but also enjoying another year by staying together and having fun.

“It will be our fourth year working together, and we are going to make the most out of it. I want to thank everybody who supports me for their dedication and commitment.”

His teammate Mick Schumacher won the title and has signed a deal to race for the Haas F1 Team in 2021.

Prema Racing team principal Rene Rosin is over the moon to have re-signed Shwartzman for a fourth straight season.

“We are delighted to extend our relationship with Robert into the 2021 season,” said Rosin.

“We thoroughly enjoyed working with him so far and we are really proud of his continued progress.

“He truly has a rare talent, and we are looking forward to seeing him take another step next year. In 2020, he immediately proved he could run for wins, and we want to build on that immediacy to be consistent contenders in 2021.”

The three-day F2 post-season test at Bahrain begins today with both Piastri and Shwartzman participating for the Italian team.

Piastri is the only Australian in the test. Alex Peroni made his ambitions clear to Auto Action several weeks ago that he intends to make the step up to the second tier F1 series.

Many F3 competitors will be competing in the post season test including runner-up Theo Pourchaire with ART Grand Prix, the fast Frenchman entered the final two rounds of the season with HWA Racelab.

Piastri’s teammate Logan Sargeant will also be testing with Campos Racing, while New Zealander Liam Lawson has been offered the test with Hitech Grand Prix.

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