FIA Formula 2: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the press conference for today’s qualifying session here in Baku: joining us are polesitter Charles Leclerc from PREMA Racing, in second we have Nobuharu Matsushita from ART Grand Prix, and in third we have Nicholas Latifi from DAMS. Charles, congratulations on a hugely emotional qualifying session: tell us about it from your view.
Charles Leclerc: As you said it was very, very emotional. It’s a good thing that we have done four poles out of four: it’s amazing, I have never done that in my career, and I just have to thank PREMA for the amazing car. The 2 laps on the second set were quite good, and I’m really happy to be on pole.
FIA Formula 2: You mention four out of four poles: this must give you enormous confidence in the car even after a slightly tricky free practice this morning?
Charles: After what happened two days ago I didn’t feel as confident as in the previous races, and yeah it was quite hard after the free practice we had this morning, but we managed the qualy well and I’m really happy about it.
FIA Formula 2: Congratulations. Nobuharu, it’s your best qualifying result of the season: how does it feel to be starting from the front row?
Nobuharu Matsushita: It’s obviously not bad, but of course I’m a bit sad because I was leading at halfway through the session, and I was hoping to get a new pole position for me, but Charles was quick and I have to be happy with P2.
FIA Formula 2: You mention leading at halfway: did the red flag stoppages help you or hurt you in your fight for pole?
Nobuharu: Not for me, it was okay: I was already in the pits, so I was just waiting.
FIA Formula 2: Congratulations. Nicholas, a very up and down session for you, so you must be delighted to be in the top three?
Nicholas Latifi: Yeah, for sure! On the first set of tyres I was already P6, so it was a good banker lap, and after the first red flag I went back out and in the castle section I hit the front wing off the car, so I think I was lucky not to hit the wheel and damage the suspension! Just a bit lucky there, but on the second set I put it out of my mind and went out again, and I was quite happy with the result: for sure the lap wasn’t perfect, but everyone can always say they can improve a bit here or there, and P3 is a good result, equalling my best qualifying session from last year. Considering this year that qualifying has been the weakness I think it’s pretty good.
FIA Formula 2: How hard was it to have that accident but then to go back out and push again?
Nicholas: It is obviously a really tricky section: it’s quite narrow and you have the kerb there, so you always try to take as much of it as you can because it’s already such a tight corner, and obviously the slower the corner the more important it is to take any extra speed through. I just cut the kerb too much and was on the wrong heading and went onto the wall, but that was still on my first set of tyres so it was just change the front wing, put on a new set of tyres, and don’t let it happen again! [laughs]
FIA Formula 2: Congratulations. Charles, we mentioned the four pole positions, but there’s only been one feature race win this season: what’s going to be the key to success tomorrow?
Charles: A good start, and then I think the speed is quite okay this weekend: the car is good, I feel good on track, so the start will be the key, and I think here luck will be a part of it as well because you have so many long straights, and to manage the straights and second and third behind me will be quite hard. It will be quite important to start well and to manage the pace, and then we’ll see what happens.
Source : GP2.com
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