Interview
Piastri and Shwartzman ‘really pushing each other’ ahead of title showdown, says Rosin
PREMA Racing Team Principal Rene Rosin has hailed Oscar Piastri and Robert Shwartzman as “one of the best teams” that he’s worked with in Formula 2, ahead of a crunch season finale.
With two rounds of the season to go, PREMA are first in the Teams’ Championship with an 88-point advantage over Carlin, while Piastri and Shwartzman sit first and third in the fight for the Drivers’ title fight, 43 points apart.
“There is a very good work attitude between them,” said Rosin. “They are working very hard together and interacting very well together. They respect each other a lot and that is very good for the team atmosphere.
“There is a great work ethic between them. They are each trying to do their best and both want to win the Championship. I would say that it is one of the best teams that we have had in Formula 2. It is very, very good, they are really pushing each other.
“When it is the moment to a laugh with each other, they are laughing with each other, when it is the moment to be serious, they are being serious and working hard together.”
Piastri increased his advantage over UNI-Virtuosi’s Guanyu Zhou to 36 points in the last round at Sochi, while Shwartzman closed the gap to the UNI-Virtuosi driver to only seven points.
“Having two drivers fighting for the Championship is a very good team effort,” Rosin continued. “We’re all pushing each other and taking steps to improve and beat the others. When you start looking behind you, that is when you start failing. You need to be looking in front.
“We want to win both titles, but we are concentrating on doing things race by race. We will look a bit at the rankings after Jeddah, but right now, we are focused on being the fastest in Free Practice and Quali and then getting the most out of the two Sprint Races and the Feature Race.
“There is always room to improve, the competition in Formula 2 is tremendously high. These are the best engineers outside of Formula 1 and the best single-seater drivers outside of Formula 1. Everything is very, very tight and the gap is very fine - you need to be taking care of everything.”
Heading to the Jeddah Corniche Circuit for the first time, PREMA have doubled down on their pre-race prep in the break as Rosin looks to extend their current run of form.
On a run of three poles in a row, Piastri has won the last two Feature Races, while Shwartzman took podiums in both Monza and Sochi.
“We are trying to get as much information as possible, but we’re relying on videos from the internet at the moment,” explained Rosin. “It will be the same for everybody at the moment. The preparation that we are doing is going to be fundamental in ensuring that we arrive at our best.
“The track will be new for everybody. The conditions will be quite difficult because I think that we will be the first cars out on track. It will be green, and it will be sandy, but we will try to adapt as quickly as possible and react as fast as we can.
“We are not a Formula 1 team, and we don’t have Formula 1 facilities, but we are doing everything that we can to be as ready as possible.”