Robert Shwartzman ended up on top in FIA Formula E Rookie Test in Berlin ahead of Jak Crawford and Sheldon van der Linde.
Morning –
Shwartzman drove to a 1m02.050s which was just a couple of tenths-of-a-second shy of Jake Dennis’ pole lap ahead of the SUN MINIMEAL Berlin E-Prix Round 10 on Sunday. The DS racer is Reserve Driver for the Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 team and he is continuing his work alongside the DS PENSKE squad at the Berlin Rookie Test after appearing in Misano earlier this season.
Felipe Drugovich is another familiar face in Formula E’s pool of rookie drivers. The Brazilian was second quickest, 0.071s shy of the ultimate pace. He is once again behind the wheel of the Maserati Tipo Folgore GEN3 car having topped the times in Berlin in the Rookie Test last year, and tested in Rookie Free Practice in Rome – where he also wound up fastest.
Drugovich has a great track record as the 2022 FIA Formula 2 champion. Over the 2022 season, the Maserati MSG Racing man achieved five wins and 11 podiums to win the feeder series by 101 points to his nearest rival. His skill and talent caught the eyes of teams within F1 too, as he currently holds the role of Test and Reserve Driver at Aston Martin.
During his day of testing in Berlin for the Monegasque team last April, Drugovich locked in 99 laps and finished the day with a time that was over a tenth quicker than the rest of the field. The squad also said his test helped the team collect vital data.
Frederik Vesti was next quickest, a few hundredths of a second back. The Dane is among the standout talents to emerge from the FIA’s single-seater pathway in recent times, amassing an impressive 37 race victories and 81 podium finishes across stints in Formula 4, Formula Regional, FIA Formula 3 and FIA Formula 2. The 22-year-old narrowly finished runner-up in the Formula 2 title race last season, and makes his first Formula E appearance in the German capital.
Sheldon van der Linde (Jaguar TCS Racing), Gabriele Mini (Nissan) and Kush Maini (Mahindra Racing) rounded out the top six with FIA Formula 2 standings leader Zane Maloney (Andretti) found himself seventh, 0.362 seconds from Shwartzman’s best.
Marta Garcia (ERT) had spent the weekend competing in FRECA at Hockenheim and headed directly to Berlin Tempelhof for her work with ERT. The F1 Academy champion rounded in 21st, completing the team’s data collection and development programme for the morning. The drivers completed a total of 1,099 laps over the three-hour morning session.
Afternoon –
Shwartzman set a quicker time in the afternoon than he had in the morning – a 1m01.937s – just a tenth slower than reigning champion Jake Dennis managed with his pole effort on Sunday for Round 10. Crawford enjoyed a strong first taste of Formula E with the second quickest time of the second session, 0.173 seconds off Shwartzman’s pace.
The American has seen success in karts before making his car racing debut in Formula 4 in 2018. After two years in FIA Formula 3, he was promoted to FIA Formula 2, quickly becoming a race winner at the Sprint race in Austria in 2023.
Sheldon van der Linde managed another competitive time in the afternoon, just under a quarter-of-a-second from the ultimate pace as he worked through his programme with Jaguar TCS Racing, winding up third.
Felipe Drugovich is no stranger to a Formula E Rookie Test and always finds himself up the sharp end of the timesheets. Fourth this afternoon, having topped the test here this time last year, despite his Tipo Folgore coming to a halt with technical issues mid-session.
Kush Maini (Mahindra Racing) came home fifth with Enzo Fittipaldi rounding out the top six in the Jaguar and Mahindra’s Frederik Vesti impressing again in seventh, FIA Formula 2 table topper Zane Maloney eighth, Gabriele Mini with another top 10 time in ninth and Caio Collet managing the 10th quickest time of the session.
Results: 90_90_Classification_Overall Rookie Test
[Note: The story is as per press release]