Prema Racing will field Robert Shwartzman alongside Callum Ilott for its maiden IndyCar campaign in 2025, bringing together two drivers the Italian squad had success with in junior formulas.
This is a new career path for Shwartzman, who won the FIA F3 championship in 2019 and was the F2 runner-up in F2 two years later – both times with Prema – but never made it to the Formula 1 grid.
Having been an F1 test then reserve driver for Ferrari in the last three years, Shwartzman raced for the prancing horse with affiliated outfit AF Corse in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup in 2023.
The 25-year-old subsequently joined the WEC’s Hypercar class this year in a Ferrari 499P, winning at Circuit of the Americas with team-mates Robert Kubica and Yifei Ye while taking ninth place in the drivers’ standings.
Shwartzman now takes on a new challenge in IndyCar and is aware that mastering many new tracks as well as the team’s Chevrolet-powered Dallara will put him to the test.
“Everything will be new to us and there will be many challenges, but it will also be a lot of fun and a lot of work at the same time,” the Russian-Israeli said. “I think a very successful future lies ahead for us.
“IndyCar is a very competitive series, with so many strong drivers, and I’m looking forward to the racing, as it looks really cool.
“I have never driven on ovals and to master them, it will be a completely new challenge.
However, with Prema we achieved a lot in the past, and I think that my F1 and endurance experience will be helpful to make us evolve fast and get up to speed quickly.”
Prema team owner Rene Rosin branded Shwartzman “an extremely talented driver”, adding: “I think that, by working together, we will be able to overcome the steep learning curve that lies ahead of us.”
Meanwhile, Prema’s IndyCar CEO Piers Phillips concurred: “Robert has a very impressive resume and has been competitive everywhere he went, from single-seaters to GT and prototypes.
“We think his skills and versatility will help him considerably, and will also help our team to learn faster and be more efficient.”
Phil Hanson has signed to effectively replace Shwartzman in the customer AF Corse-run 499P next year, and is likely to be joined by incumbents Ye and Kubica - who told Autosport at last weekend's Bahrain WEC finale that he “didn’t come here for just one year”.
