For some youngsters racing around and going fast is all part of childhood. For four-year-old Robert Shwartzman, karting turned into a lifelong passion and today, at 25, he is a bona fide race car driver. “I don’t know how it happened. I really loved cars. For me any car, even the road cars, it feels like they have a soul,” he says.
The Israeli-born Shwartzman credits his late father for recognizing his talents and fostering his development. “His dream was to have a son who would be a racing driver, and hopefully be a Formula One driver one day,” says Shwartzman. That dream is about to come true as Shwartzman has qualified for the Indy 500 and raced in Nashville’s Music City Grand Prix over Labor Day weekend.
Shwartzman’s journey began in Tel Aviv but by the age of six he was already spending a good part of his life in Italy and by nine, he had moved there permanently. He finished school and eventually began driving for Ferrari as a junior driver. From there, he moved to test driver for the brand, testing Formula One cars.
After a series of successes, Shwartzman was invited by Prema, another Italian racing team. “While I’m young and I have the fire in me to push myself I want to get back to single seaters.” That decision led him to the United States, and the opportunity to reach another goal. “We also managed to get the most important qualifying in the whole racing world, the Indy 500.”
Shwartzman says what is most gratifying for him is the process of qualifying for the Indy. “There is the whole week of dedication for qualifying. I’ve never been in any series, and I’ve driving all the Formula cars, but there’s never been any race where qualifying would be such a big step.”
Through all of the success and hard work, hovering the background is the shadow of antisemitism. Shwartzman says it is something he has dealt with most of his career. “I did experience it. Mostly, unfortunately, it was in Europe at the times when I was a Ferrari driver.” He says he received death threats, mostly on social media.
The pressure for him was intense and was part of the reason he left the brand. “This is the biggest reason why it made coming to Formula One difficult.” He describes needing to hide from the public. “For half a year I didn’t go on social media, I was never at any events. I had to completely hide myself.”
He continued working with Ferrari, mostly on the simulator, but describes that period as a difficult and painful time. “It’s wrong to hate someone for where they’re from,” he says, “I’m happy I managed to survive it.” He says he has seen other athletes struggling with the same thing.
Shwartzman says the demands of race car driving are like those any other athlete must face. “Nowadays people forget that we are putting our lives at stake every time you drive a race car. Especially when you do Indy 500, we do about 230 miles an hour. It’s a real sport.” He is passionate about introducing Jewish communities throughout the United States to the sport and enjoys seeing Jewish fans. “They come, they support me and they say ‘hi.’ They appreciate the fact that I’ve taken the pole position and raised the Israeli flag. It’s been a big moment.”
Racing at such high speeds requires focus and Shwartzman says his mind is set on that during the race. “The hardest part is to actually make the car do what you need to do,” he says, “That is where the engineers and others get involved.” He says when he gets that moment when the car is working right, that is when he feels best. “You’re flying. It’s the feeling like you’re just passing your competitors, and you have a smile.”
The next goal is to drive a Nascar car. And he hopes to see Jewish communities get more involved get to know him. And to support the sport of racing. Sadly, Mikhail Shwartzman passed away in 2020 from Covid, so he never saw his son advance to that big goal driving a Formula One car. But his lessons and his memory are what keeps Shwartzman driving forward into the future.
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