Prema’s Robert Shwartzman admits he is still struggling with qualifying pace following an in-season Formula 2 test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya last weekend.
Shwartzman has yet to take a pole position in Formula 2 and qualified a low-key 11th at the opening round of the campaign in Bahrain.
Prema has not secured a pole position in F2 since Nyck de Vries drove to the top spot at the Sochi Autodrom at the penultimate round of the 2018 season.
Shwartzman set 199 laps across the three days of testing in Spain, but confirmed he is still struggling with his low-fuel runs.
“Unfortunately, I’m not completely satisfied with how the test went,” Shwartzman reflected. “The main issue was the qualifying pace which was still not good enough for me.”
“I need to understand what is going on and the reasons we couldn’t manage better lap times in the performance runs.”
Despite his struggles in the qualifying simulation runs, the 2019 Formula 3 champion states he is pleased with his pace with higher fuel onboard.
“The race pace was good and I think we are quite strong there,” he said. “I’m also happy with the race management, and the simulation was very positive.
“The starts were mixed, the grip level was pretty low but we definitely made some good ones and the start management was good as well.”
With the next round of the F2 championship scheduled for Monaco, Shwartzman highlighted it is important to overcome his one-lap pace woes due to the lack of overtaking opportunities around the Monte-Carlo street circuit.
“The focus is on qualifying,” the Russian said. “We have to analyse and understand the issue because we definitely need to improve. The next race is in Monaco and it’s very important to have a proper qualifying there.”
