Rap artist. McDonald's consumer. Formula 1 reject (for now, at least). Oval-track newbie. IndyCar's first Israel-born driver. Twenty-fourth in NTT INDYCAR Series standings. 1.6 million followers on Instagram.

That's some of what we know about Robert Shwartzman, the 25-year-old who stunned the world by clinching pole position of Sunday's 109th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge, becoming the first rookie to do since Teo Fabi in 1983.

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Driving for upstart IndyCar team PREMA Racing, which has success across the European Formula ranks and endurance racing but never before entered an Indy 500, the story of Shwartzman akin to a movie script.

He entered May dead-last among 34 entries at +20000 odds of winning the Indy 500 on DraftKings and Fanduel. His average starting position in five IndyCar events this year? An even 24th. His average finish: 20.6.

He's never raced an oval before, yet will lead the biggest race on the planet — oval or not — to green Sunday.

“Honestly it's unbelievable. I was just processing it, and I still can't believe it. It's just a dream," Shwartzman said Sunday. “I was just thinking in my dreams fantasizing, How will it feel to take pole position in Indy 500? How is the vibe? Then I was, like, 'Yeah, Robert, get back to reality. You have a new car, new team, you are a rookie. How can you expect to be in this position? It's just in your dreams.'

"But still I was keeping that tiny dream deep inside like maybe, maybe. ... Now sitting here being in pole position is just, again, just a wow.”

Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, and raised in Saint Petersburg, Russia, Shwartzman has taken the nomadic journey to IndyCar, a route he actually didn't initially pursue.

Robert Schwartzman hoists the Israeli flag during post-qualifying photo shoots. (Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment)

A standout in the European junior Formula ranks, Shwartzman won the 2019 FIA Formula 3 Championship with PREMA Racing and finished second in Formula 2 in 2021, outpacing talents like Mick Schumacher and Oscar Piastri. His career trajectory, particuarly as a reserve driver for Ferrari in 2021-24, pointed toward Formula 1.

But he's waited years for a chance that's yet to come — a chance that may never come.

If it weren't for his Russian ties (he raced under the Russian banner until the FIA, which governs Formula 1, banned such representation following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine), Shwartzman might not even be in Indy.

"In Formula 1, there are quite a lot of things going around that I have no control of, so I come here with the thought that this is a place I’m going to be racing for quite a while," Shwartzman said of IndyCar, which has carved out careers for F1 rejects over the years. "My target is to bring myself up and the team to the top level."

He's ventured into endurance racing as well, winning a GT World Challenge Europe race in 2023 and testing Ferrari’s 499P Hypercar.

In 2025, Shwartzman joined PREMA Racing’s IndyCar foray, a risky move for a driver with no prior oval experience. In essentially seven practice sessions at IMS — two for the open test April 24-25, six practices before Sunday's Fast 6 — Shwartzman vaulted from greenhorn to leading the biggest race on the planet to green.

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He started 25th-fastest at the Indy Open Test, then posted the second-to-last speed in logging only six laps in last Tuesday's opening practice. He then went 28th, 32nd before a more modest 13th on Wednesday, Thursday and on Fast Friday. But before advancing into Sunday's Top 12 during Saturday morning's practice, he logged the sixth-best speed, boosting his outlook.

Although nervous for his qualifying run "because you don't know" how things will escalate, Shwartman's mentality was "let's keep it safe, just stable. We know that the car is quite quick."

"Just need to be consistent, do the four laps, and the last run I just give it all," he said.

A sixth-place qualifying effort Saturday led to Sunday's Top 12 qualifying appearance, and his third-place effort in Top 12 qualifying led to an improbable Fast 6 berth. His four-lap 232.790 mph average in final-round qualifying sealed the improbable as he edged out two-time Indy 500 champ Takuma Sato and 2024 runner-up Pato O'Ward on the front row.

"I think the thing that made me sit here now in this position I think is just the right team mentality," Shwartzman said. "You don't need to be a genius. You don't need to have incredible experience. You just need to have a good people around you as a team, which are conscious of what they're doing.

"You know, as a whole team, you just know that, 'OK, we'll go step by step, small steps without rushing because even though I don't have experience, I've heard a lot of people saying that Indy doesn't forgive.' One slight mistake can cost you a lot.

"We've seen Colton (Herta), Marcus (Ericsson), Scotty (McLaughlin), they were really fast, but I think they could have definitely challenged. But with that mistake, (all three wrecked in practices before qualifying), they didn't manage to do it. So that was the thing that I didn't really want to do."

And how did Shwartzman celebrate what he called "the best feeling ever"? 

Robert Shwartzman and PREMA Racing celebrate their Indy 500 pole award loudly. (Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment)

“I went to McDonalds,” he said.

When he wrapped up post-qualifying media duties at 10:15 p.m, his options were limited on the 40-minute drive north to Fishers, Ind., where he stays, so he had to settle for "a McChicken, chicken nuggets and a bit of fries."

“I had no food since I don’t know when, came back home straight away, just ate it because I was so hungry, jumped in the shower, and went straight to bed," he said. "That was around 12:20 a.m., I think, and then 6:30 a.m. woke up, so around six hours of sleep.”

Though Shwartzman's in the best position possible come race day, an uphill battle awaits him. He was 26th-fastest in Monday's penultimate practice and didn't look particularly strong in traffic where the race is often won and lost.

Bright is "we put myself in different positions in the grid to see how it feels and how the car behaves, for my understanding,” said Shwartzman, who despite the lack of speed results-wise was "overall, quite happy."

But reality is "we need to obviously work a little bit on getting the car a bit stronger."

"I was in a group with Alex (Palou) and Pato (O’Ward), and me and Pato seemed to be quite similar, but Alex was a tiny bit stronger, feeling-wise," Shwartzman said. "So, we need to see what was different and try to get a bit more grip.”

Shwartzman's talents extend beyond racing. The music enthusiast released a rap song ACTIVE in 2023 under his rapper name Shwartzy. Despite admitting it's been "a long time" since he evoked Shwartzy, his Indy showing has him thinking big, even if it's playfully, in the music arena, too.

"As I said, I need some good studio to contact me, and I'm down to get in the studio on the mic, and we can have a look at how we can lyrically do a really cool song about getting the pole in Indy 500," Shwartzman said.