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Shwartzman chased F1; now he’s living the Indy 500 dream

Robert Shwartzman’s life changed on Sunday. The odds are long, but they could change again this Sunday if he’s able to complete the wildest story in modern IndyCar history.

Before he captured pole position for the 109th Indianapolis 500, the Israel-born, Russia-raised race car driver was best known as an elite next-generation driver who got tantalizingly close to achieving his dream of competing in Formula 1. Close, but not close enough.

Continually passed over for race seats, Shwartzman’s inner faith kept him tied to F1 as Ferrari’s test and reserve driver from 2022-’23, and in 2024, he was farmed out to the terrible Ferrari-powered Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber program while contesting the full FIA World Endurance Championship season in a customer Ferrari 499 Hypercar.

For a kid who finished second in the 2021 Formula 2 championship to PREMA Racing teammate Oscar Piastri – the current F1 championship leader – his slide from hot F1 prospect to being largely forgotten in sports cars wasn’t how his career was meant to turn out.

That’s where an invitation to reunite with PREMA on a new American journey in 2025 required another demonstration of faith.

Pole position. Indy 500. As a rookie. Faith rewarded.

“I still can’t believe what happened, and it’s just unbelievable emotions and experience,” the 25-year-old Shwartzman told RACER. “Coming here, in my dreams, I was imagining a similar moment – how would it feel to be taking pole position at the Indy 500? But obviously you come to reality and you’re like, ‘Yeah, come on, the team is rookie. I’m a rookie. I’ve never raced on the oval. I’ve never done it.’ Like, how can you? It’s unbelievable. It’s impossible.

“But still, this dream was somewhere deep inside me. I was like, ‘Maybe, if everything, all the stars align, everything’s gonna go well, it can happen.’ And I think overall, coming to the weekend here, we had the perfect approach in the team, where we were like, you know, ‘Guys, just take it steady, step by step.’ I knew in the Indy 500 here, it’s not forgiving, like one slight mistake, and that’s it, your weekend is over. So I was like, ‘Let’s not do any mistakes. Let’s just keep it smooth and nice and do it step by step. And wherever we’re gonna arrive at, we just need to do the job. And, yeah, obviously coming to pole position here, it was just like, [wow].”

Carb Day wasn’t fast – just 29th – but the dream is still there. Joe Skibinski/IMS Photo

An IndyCar test with Chip Ganassi Racing at Sebring in 2023 impressed the team; it’s leaders were interested in securing his services for the future, but Shwartzman was still within F1’s grip. As 2024 progressed, the 24-year-old found himself at a pivotal point in his life where he was F1-adjacent and had to decide whether it was time to surrender his open-wheel ambitions and commit to sports cars or return to PREMA and embark on a journey into the unknown.

The first five IndyCar races must have felt like the wrong decision was made with finishes of 20th, 22nd, 18th, 25th, and 18th. But that’s where the kid’s innate warmth and belief became his super power; he should have been spooked by Indy and unsure of his team’s ability to deliver a fast car on debut at the Speedway. Instead, it’s become hard to find a young driver who’s more genuinely inspiring than Robert Shwartzman.

“I think it should be a good example for people in any industry they’re working in, and generally, in life, that you have to always believe,” he said. “Even sometimes people would call me a dreamer. Yes, I like to dream, but I also do things to make this dream come true. I think that the hardest thing in the world, is to have perfect relationships between human beings, and that’s what we need to chase. That’s what we need to try to figure out anywhere in any industry – it can be politics, it can be sports, it can be businesses – just to find the right way and approach to work with people.

“Find the right words, right? [Find the right] strategy and the right beliefs and things will work. That’s how this is a good example. Nobody ever would say that I would take pole position, not even me. I would say, ‘You’re mad?’ Like, what would need to happen for me? But it did. And again, it’s just a proof for me, and I hope for other people who’re looking at it, as you just have to believe, and you just have to try to chase the right things, the right approach, and work with human beings. Because as a team, you can do anything.”

Shwartzman and PREMA aced the solo portion of the Indy 500. His car wasn’t especially fast on Carb Day as the field of 33 got their final chance to practice and the No. 83 Chevy ended the two-hour run in 29th place. He’s surrounded by a hungry pack of veterans, with race winners and hard chargers ready to rip the lead from his hands at the first corner.

It’s here where Shwartzman, once again, will rely on his maturity and big-picture thinking to handle whatever lies ahead.

“Anything can happen [in the race],” he said. “This is motor racing. Can’t control it. There’s no guarantee. We’ve done the best we could. We’ve done an unbelievable job in quali. We’ve shown that we were the fastest. Then in the race, it can be whatever. I want to believe that we will have a strong enough car and I can be battling until the end for the win. But again, I don’t want to predict this. My first ever oval race…

“I don’t have the full experience and knowledge of how to battle here. If you would put me in a normal road course, I would be way more confident in that way, because I know how to defend, I know how to overtake, I know how to brake, I know how to do everything. My target is just to keep it smooth, keep it nice, and that’s it. We’ll see where we’re going to be.”