“Lots of things to improve on” for race winner Robert

When Robert Shwartzman crossed the chequered flag in Race 1 at Barcelona, he became the first ever FIA Formula 3 race winner… The catch? He didn’t know it yet. It wasn’t until the Russian arose from the chamber of his PREMA Racing machine and saw the bold number 1 proudly displayed in-front of his car that something clicked.

He still needed reassurance, “did I win?” questioned the 19-year-old. If it hadn’t already sunk in, the glistening trophy handed to him on the podium would soon do the job. The confusion came after an infringement made by Christian Lundgaard during a virtual safety car period demoted the ART driver to second, below Shwartzman.

Despite writing his name in F3 folk law with the new era’s first ever win, the Russian admitted to having mixed feelings on the race win. He explained: “I was quite happy with P2 because it was still good points, with solid lap times.

“When I heard that I was P1 because there was a mistake with the virtual safety car for Christian, of course I was feeling good, but it wasn’t that sort of feeling where you finish on the chequered flag in first position. We still need to do a job to improve ourselves and hopefully we're going to win the next race properly.”

Talking about his own experience of the VSC, he recalled: “It was a bit difficult and strange for me because I've never experienced that kind of Virtual Safety Car, but when I saw the light I just backed off and didn't take any risks. I knew there was quite a big gap between me and Marcus (Armstrong) so I was like 'if I lose a few tenths it's not going to change my life,’ and I took it safe.”

It was a solid first race all round for the PREMA Racing team, as Marcus Armstrong joined his Russian teammate on the podium and Jehan Deruvala also finished in the points, in P7. Shwartzman spoke with pride at the hard work that the team have put in to get to this point.

“Marcus said yesterday that we did a good winter testing,” he recalled. “The work we have done is really good and the team did a really great job, which gave me a lot of confidence. It doesn't mean we're perfect and we still have a lot of things to improve on and to learn, but we have a good starting point from this weekend.”

Attention will quickly turn to Race 2 on Sunday morning at 10.15am, where the pacey PREMA racer will start in 8th place on the reverse grid. With seven drivers ahead of him and some serious talent to slice his way through, in order to reach P1, the Ferrari junior asserted that he is relishing the fight.

“It's really interesting,” he continued “We've shown that we were one of the quickest and now it's just time to show how good we can battle with each other. I have Christian and Marcus in front, and other good drivers, so it's going to be a proper fight.

“Pace-wise, I think we're really strong so if everything is good and we have a good start, then we can gain some positions and I'll try to do my best as usual. I'll push as hard as I can and we'll see where we end up tomorrow."