FORMULA 2 ROUND 5 FEATURE RACE PRESS CONFERENCE

FIA Formula 2: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the press conference for today’s feature race here in Spielberg: joining us are race winner Charles Leclerc from PREMA Racing, in second place we have Nicholas Latifi from DAMS, and in third place is Antonio Fuoco, also from PREMA. Charles, congratulations on your fourth win of the season: you led all the way from the start, but how was the race from your seat?

Charles Leclerc: It wasn’t easy, definitely! At the end Nicholas was coming very, very quickly. We had a good start and I managed the tyres as much as I could, because I knew I had to do a lot of laps to the pitstop, so I was managing the gap to the end. At around the middle of the stint I could push a bit harder to open out the gap, and that helped us to win the race because at the end the gap was not huge. The last part of the race was really hard to manage, because with the soft tyres they degrade a lot quicker than we thought, and Nicholas was just very quick.

FIA Formula 2: We saw a lot of lock ups for you at turn 4, and on the podium you said you maybe stopped a bit early: were you forced to stop when you did, or could you have gone longer?

Charles: The lock ups were my fault, so I need to stop doing that! I was just trying to push as hard as I could, and the tyres were really bad at the end so it was easier to lock up. Thinking after the race I don’t think we could have done any better with the strategy we had, because on the prime tyres we pitted when we had to, because the tyres were done, and we finished on the limit with the option tyres, so I’m happy about the race.

FIA Formula 2: Congratulations. Nicholas, this is your third podium in a row: how does that feel?

Nicholas Latifi: Very good, obviously! We’ve got good momentum, and obviously I want to keep on this way. I had a good start today, which has been a trend for me this year, and obviously starting on the alternate strategy we were debating back and forward for hours because we weren’t sure, and we knew we’d have to basically stop right away on the options and then do 33 laps on the prime tyres. We didn’t get to see what it was like last year, because the race got interrupted by the weather, so there was a lot of unknowns. After the first 3 laps I knew my supersofts were gone, so I was expecting it to be a very difficult one on the softs. I was just managing the tyres for the first half of the stint, and obviously Oliver came up behind me and pulled quite a gap, but I just ran my own race and feeling the pace I had to run at to keep the tyres to the end, and obviously it worked out. When I heard these guys were pitting I knew there were a lot of laps to the end, and based on my experience from the beginning of the race I knew they would start dropping. I didn’t know I’d come that close to Charles in the end, but it just shows you that when the supersofts go, they really go! In the end I’m really happy with my race, so a big thank you to the team and I hope to keep this momentum into tomorrow’s race.

FIA Formula 2: You mentioned Oliver Rowland: can you talk us through some of your moves, in particular the one when you took third off him?

Nicholas: I got by him at the start so I didn’t need to pass him, and out of the pits I wasn’t going to defend because he was obviously quicker and there was no point slowing us both down. At the end it got a bit close – we’re teammates but it did get a bit aggressive – but that’s racing, and when you put the visor down you’re not friends with anyone! Obviously you don’t do anything stupid or unnecessary to your teammate, but I think it was a good little scrap we had, and obviously I’m happy with how I came out in front and was able to hunt down Antonio.

FIA Formula 2: Congratulations. Antonio, it’s your first podium of the year, but how hard did you have to work for it over those last few laps?

Antonio Fuoco: Yeah, it was quite hard at the end! We did a quite good start, we managed the tyres until midway through the race, and then in the last part of the first stint I had some degradation so I had to pit a lap earlier than Charles. When we went out with the supersofts I was behind Rowland, and then I passed him but I saw Nicholas coming fast in the mirrors so I decided to let him go, and I tried to defend from Rowland. I think it was quite good to be back on the podium, and it’s the first time for me here but I think I was just unlucky until this moment, but now we are back and we need to keep pushing.

FIA Formula 2: You mentioned you’ve been unlucky so far: do you think this result can kick start the rest of your season?

Antonio: Yeah, for sure. Now we need to keep pushing: this is a good result for me and for the team, they are pushing really hard and giving everything for me, so I think it’s really good and we can look for tomorrow.

FIA Formula 2: Charles, obviously you have a big lead in the championship now: does that enter your thinking for the race tomorrow, where you start in 8^th?

Charles: No, not really. I won’t take any stupid risks, or risk a penalty for race 1 in Silverstone, but obviously it’s a race like all the others and I won’t change my vision. I’ve always done it in the past race by race, and I will still do it like this tomorrow.