INDIANAPOLIS — Robert Shwartzman went from turning only six laps on the first day of practice on Tuesday (May 13th) to locking himself into the Top 12 Shootout during Saturday’s (May 17th) qualifying session for the 2025 Indianapolis 500.
The NTT IndyCar Series rookie was sixth-fastest around Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a four-lap qualifying average of 232.584 mph in the No. 83 PREMA Racing Chevrolet.
The Israeli-born racer has never raced before on an oval after going through the European open-wheel ladder system and racing two years in Formula 2.
“Honestly, it felt amazing,” Shwartzman told FOX’s Kevin Lee after his run. “I think this qualifying is the hardest qualifying, mentally, I have ever done in my career. I’ve driven different categories, I’ve driven Formula 1 cars and it never felt so challenging because here it’s not only one lap, it’s four laps. You have to be super precise, consistent.
“And honestly whenever I did my first lap I was like, ‘Damn, 233.’ I was like ‘We’re fast! That’s fast, that’s nice!'”
Shwartzman’s first lap was 233.230 mph and his second lap was 233.100 mph. His third lap fell to 232.028 mph before finishing the run with a final lap of 231.984 mph.
“We were a bit too aggressive with balance,” Shwartzman said in the post-qualifying press conference. “I started to lose a bit, the rear. It was sketchy in the third and fourth lap. I just need to survive, just finish it.
“At the end, I think overall it just gave me the boost and understanding that the car is really fast. Honestly, going into the corner, the car is just holding on. I was feeling it a bit yesterday, from the free practice. The car seems to be good. We can actually push it and yeah, today showed that the car is really there.”
The run was massively impressive for the 2019 FIA Formula 3 Champion. There were doubts concerning PREMA’s Indianapolis preparation following their lengthy delay in getting both Shwartzman’s car and Callum Ilott’s No. 90 Chevrolet on track to practice.
However, Shwartzman turned 196 laps in practice before becoming the fastest rookie in the 2025 Indianapolis 500 field in a qualifying format that was unlike anything else he had experienced before and made him approach the process differently.
“I was actually never really worried about qualifying in my entire life,” Shwartzman said. “Even when I drove F1 cars in practice, I was calm. Sometimes you can have this worry in races whenever you’re starting from pole, normal worry. Here yesterday night I was like, ‘We have a decent car, it’s my first qualy, four laps, I have to stick to it.’
“Honestly, when you go out, it’s just full focus. Not even a slight second you have to relax. Normally in European tracks or qualy, you have a moment [to] just breathe. Here it was one single breath, just go, that’s it.”
Shwartzman will compete in the Top 12 session with 11 other competitors, including Alex Palou, Pato O’Ward and defending Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden. The top six from that session will compete in the Fast Six session Sunday (May 18) afternoon.
Christopher DeHarde has covered IndyCar racing and the Road to Indy for various outlets since 2014. In addition to open wheel racing, DeHarde has also covered IMSA and various short track racing events around Indiana. Originally from New Orleans, DeHarde moved to the Indianapolis area in 2017 to further pursue a career as a motorsports writer.