Why Leclerc isn't Ferrari's only 2019 sensation

While Ferrari's Formula 1 performance was lacklustre for much of the first half of 2019 - with driver incompetence and car reliability/strategy execution equally to blame - one of its junior drivers has proved that it was not a company-wide problem.

The sustained success has come from a 20-year-old Russian racer in the early stages of his career. Ferrari and SMP Racing-backed Robert Shwartzman has taken the new FIA Formula 3 series by storm this year.

He's rarely been dominant, but so far he's not finished a race with a grid decided by qualifying outside the top five. His tally of three wins leads the category this season and his Prema squad has already secured the teams' championship, and the drivers' crown will go to one its racers, too.

It's now a two-way fight for honours, with Shwartzman and Jehan Daruvala split by 33 points heading into this weekend's season finale at Sochi. Taking second in the first race will guarantee Shwartzman the title.

Ultimately there's only one deserved champion, as Shwartzman has been the standout driver of the season.

Victory from pole in the first race of the year provided a good snapshot of his season. He produced the goods in qualifying, and although he lost out to Christian Lundgaard in the race, he drove sensibly and within the realms of what was possible. A sprinkling of luck with Lundgaard's virtual safety car penalty did the rest that day at Barcelona.

All drivers are prone to bouts of rage and aggression, but Shwartzman has learned to become more calm, and has also oozed confidence since pre-season testing. That perfect start gave him a massive boost too.

Prema - a giant on the junior single-seater scene - is certainly impressed.

"First of all, [even] before Sochi we can say that Robert has done an amazing job in how quickly he adapted to a new car, to a new category, and to a new format," says team boss Rene Rosin. "So that has been impressive, because since day one in testing he's always been very good.

"Of course, he's been supported by the complete team, because having three cars always fighting for the top positions helped everybody to push to a different level. Everybody pushed more to always get better, but even in the moment where it was not possible for Robert to win, he was always able to achieve points and very good results."

"Robert is a little bit young, and [in the past] a little bit emotional, but with what he is doing now he's really showing his professional talent" Vitaly Petrov

Last year, also racing with Prema, Shwartzman was the top rookie in the 2018 European Formula 3 season. After two seasons in F4 and then two in the Formula Renault Eurocup, it took him a while to get up to speed with a car that didn't really suit him, especially as many around him had more testing and racing experience of the machine.

But once up to speed, a run that almost matched eventual champion Mick Schumacher over the second half of the season allowed him to take third in the standings.

Fast forward a year and things have been rather different. First off, he gelled beautifully with the new F3 car. And if you needed any proof that Prema is the best team in junior single-seaters, remember that it hadn't competed in GP3 - the series that FIA F3 replaced while introducing an updated version of the GP3 car - and rocked up to immediately take the lead this year, winning the teams' championship with two events to spare.

But it hasn't just been about the new car. Racing in FIA F3 means less data, less testing and less track time on a race weekend, with drivers having to learn to maximise tyre performance with the famously tricky Pirellis. Getting the best results out of the two-race format with a single practice and qualifying was always going to be tough, but Shwartzman has excelled.

As well as all those adaptations, another change that Shwartzman made for this year was his driver coach. In came ex-F1 driver Vitaly Petrov, who offers an insight into working with one of the hottest properties on the grand prix support package.

"The first time I met him was at the test at Budapest [in April] and from the beginning I understood how quick he is," says Petrov. "For me it was not a problem to work with him at all.

"I try to give him everything I know and try to be calm. Robert is a little bit young, and [in the past] a little bit emotional, but with what he's doing now he's really showing his professional talent. Not just in driving but you can see it all weekend, in and out of the car, he's always calm and strong with his mind and he knows what he's doing.

"He has natural talent, so explaining how to drive is not my job. It's more to analyse what happens, and to give advice and help him concentrate before the race."

Shwartzman is morphing from a fun-loving teen into an equally fun but serious racing driver, showing the kind of admirable maturity that means he hasn't turned into a miserable robot. He's got a goal, but that comes from a place inspired by fun - the same feeling he experienced when he jumped in a kart aged four and wouldn't get out until the battery was dead.

Petrov has helped Shwartzman come of age across the season, although he hasn't been present at every round. He has a similar character to the younger driver.

"He's a really good guy and he's been in F1, so he has a lot of knowledge and history and he can give me good advice," says an endearingly breathless Shwartzman. "And I really like him because he's calm, he's chilled, no stress - he likes to sleep, like me.

"There's a good flow between me and him. We're quite similar, [but] I'm more aggressive than him.

"He has had a big pause from racing so he has time to work with me. I think he likes it. When I've made risky moves he's been nervous, which means he cares, [is] interested and wants to help."

The pair have struck up a strong rapport and can usually be found relaxing in the F3 hospitality unit, with Shwartzman usually wearing a very distinctive knitted Ferrari jumper, eating something extremely healthy.

Being part of the Ferrari Driver Academy has given Shwartzman new motivation, but also provided him with a place to settle in Maranello. There, he has like-minded juniors following the same path, so the jump from Russia to mainland Europe hasn't been too steep.

But that transition wouldn't have been possible without the Ferrari/SMP combination, which has stepped in to help fund his career. It's enabled a very bright talent to remain competing at the top level in the best teams, instead of being lost on the conveyor belt of single-seater talent.

Colliding with team-mate Armstrong in Austria has been the only real blip in what has been a year of staggering consistency so far

Despite having outside funding, Shwartzman shows no pressure and he's definitely not afraid to stand up and ask for what he wants, or offer his opinion on what should be done with his career. He's in a similar situation to Lando Norris's rise up the single-seater ladder, where the McLaren racer had a management team and various stakeholders, but often made the final call on which category he would race in, with which team, or both.

Shwartzman now lives in Maranello, but he's still able to get back to St Petersburg frequently, and there he has a slightly retro hobby, which can only endear him more to fans of anything powered by an internal combustion engine.

"When I'm in Russia I play basketball, but I have a different passion," he says. "I have a lot of car mates and we do car meets. We hang out, and there is a closed area where you can burn the tyres.

"Everyone is always surprised when I drive, how I can control a road car. It gives me a good feeling - I'm good at it and people enjoy it. It's all legal and we don't do anything dangerous or stupid. I always avoid getting in any trouble."

But he hasn't always avoided trouble in his racing this year. Arguably the most difficult weekend of 2019 so far was at the Red Bull Ring, where a technical issue hampered his qualifying but he was able to deliver 10th on the grid for race one. He raced to fifth in the first event to set up a fourth-place starting spot for the second.

In the subsequent action, Shwartzman and Marcus Armstrong - his Prema team-mate and fellow Ferrari junior, who was starting sixth - diced for the win after they'd made short work of the rest of the field.

On the last lap, Armstrong dived to the outside of the tight uphill right-hander at Turn 3 to attempt a move around the outside or a cutback on the exit when Shwartzman clipped his rear-right tyre. Armstrong ended up 19th and Shwartzman won on the road, before being penalised and dropped to third.

Armstrong reckoned that the penalty was deserved, and the softly spoken Shwartzman delivered a commendable post-race interview, conceding that he should have indeed ceded ground, while adding that it was still racing and that it wasn't all his fault. In the mental battle, you can't be seen to be weak and that's definitely not something with which Shwartzman can be charged.

But that has been the only significant blip in what's so far been a year of staggering consistency - other than clipping Felipe Drugovich in race two at the Hungaroring. Shwartzman has delivered the best possible result, even under pressure.

His consistency has been remarkable, and there have been countless examples of him sensibly withdrawing from optimistic overtaking moves, helping him to secure strong points finishes and put him in position to score his first major racing title.

Considering that he's fighting 30 drivers in the same-spec car, it's been a stellar year.

The only thing we haven't really learned about the young Russian is if he can defend from the front. He's only had that one pole, and he couldn't hold on in Spain.

When it comes to Shwartzman's moments of aggression, there's no doubt Petrov has had his say.

"It's difficult to give him any advice, but in future if you are fighting for championship points, it is better to finish second, not third, and keep a few more points," explains the former Renault, Lotus and Caterham driver. "Once I crashed with Schumacher in Korea and I knew if I braked 100 metres earlier, it would never happen. It's racing."

Shwartzman has proved that racing is one of his real strengths this year. He strikes a fine balance between enjoying his chosen profession while also knowing when it's time to get serious. He's proved that by having the drivers' championship almost wrapped up even before he arrived at his home event this weekend.

"We are preparing for Sochi like any normal race," says Rosin. "I think it's the first time he is racing in his own country in such a high category, and for sure he will feel a bit of pressure. But we want him to get prepared in the same way that we have done for all the other races - without thinking about the championship.

"We need to score points. He needs to do a bit more than Jehan, and [if he does] we can celebrate the win. Of course I would say, 'I'm OK with whoever wins' because whatever the result will be, it will be a Prema driver to win the drivers' championship..."

Whatever happens in front of his home crowd, a step up to Formula 2 for 2020 is next on the list for the impressive rookie. It's not clear which team he would end up with, but if Shwartzman performs as he has in F3 this year, he will easily be an early favourite to be the top rookie on the final step below F1.