Round 8 Post Qualifying Press Conference

FIA Formula 2: Hello and welcome to the Press Conference of the top three qualifiers for the FIA Formula 2 Championship in Silverstone. In third place we have Dennis Hauger from MP Motorsport, in second we have Victor Martins from ART Grand Prix and taking Pole Position today is Isack Hadjar from Campos Racing. Isack congratulations, your first Pole Position in Formula 2, that one felt like it has been on the cards for a while Isack Hadjar: It came a bit late to be honest. I had a few shots at it this year already. Maybe not last year but it took a bit of time. Finally, we have made it. The car was just perfect today, and the lap was great. It made sense.

FIA Formula 2: You were a quarter of a second clear of the field. You came into the pits at the end of your second attempt of the final run. Were you confident that no one was going to improve at that point?

Hadjar: I was not improving so there was no point staying on track. It’s better to save fuel and tyres. I was just hoping for everyone to not beat my lap.

FIA Formula 2: Did you get a feeling that the track wasn’t getting any quicker, that it would be tough for everyone to beat what you had done. Hadjar: I knew it was a one lap tyre, at least for me. When I saw after the first lap that I was ahead my confidence was high that I would keep the Pole.

FIA Formula 2: You went straight from an F1 FP1 in the Red Bul to the Qualifying session, how pleased are you with how you performed on such a hectic day after all that movement? Hadjar: Yeah it is really hard to go from F1 to F2 within one and a half hours. It’s changing your references and feeling with the car completely. It’s completely different, you go from power steering to none. It messes up the references a little bit, so I used the first run to adapt and the second to deliver.

FIA Formula 2: Well you did that. Victor second place for you today, your second front row start of the season, are you happy with that result?

Victor Martins: For sure, it feels good to be back. Definitely we are doing a step forward seeing this performance in Silverstone is a different thing to seeing it in Monaco or another track. I think Silverstone shows that if you are quick here, if you do the job here it will be there in the next race also. I think we maximised today even in FP in the wet, the pace was quite good with the few laps that we got. Qualifying was all about getting the tyres in the window, getting the confidence and going for it. For the team, for myself I started to come back with confidence. I think that’s what we need.

FIA Formula 2: It’s been a busy triple-header, you won the Sprint Race in Spain but then no points from Austria. How pleased are you to have bounced back so quickly?

Martins: I think it’s important. We have another weekend to have a break, but I think it is good to keep the momentum. If we can get some positives from this weekend, then we will have one full week to analyse everything and come back even stronger. Definitely finishing these races in a good way will be important for us and I think we have had a good start to the weekend.

FIA Formula 2: Looking ahead to when you start on the front row, what’s the target for that one. Is it to fight Isack for the win or just to pick up solid points over the next two days.

Martins: I think every time I get the opportunity, I will go for it, but I think the main focus right now is to get some track time. I am sure I am the driver with the least amount of time on track with the mistakes we have made and the issues we have had. I did not get that much time on track to understand the car. Definitely we need some points, we need some good understanding of the car, the tyre managements and all the things required to do another step. The aim will be to keep it on the track and get some good data for Budapest and Spa.

FIA Formula 2: Well done. Dennis, you were the only driver in the top eight to improve on their final lap in that session, how tough was it out there to find that extra time for third place? Dennis Hauger: I guess it means I didn’t do the job on the first lap. It felt quite good on the second push too. I just managed to improve a bit here and there, nothing huge it was really close from P2 to P8 in the end it was only one or two tenths. I was just trying to find the last bit of a margin. It felt good overall the pace was there. We are P3 and P4 as a team. Overall, I think we can be quite confident going from Pole last week to a Top 3 again this week is a good step for me at least in terms of Qualifying pace. It has taken a while, but we feel good in that sense. Going into the races tomorrow we don’t know if it will be wet or dry but overall, we are there, just got to have a clean weekend now.

FIA Formula 2: Fortunately, it was dry for the Qualifying session, what is it like driving the car on low fuel, Soft tyres, going for it in Qualifying setup around a track like this?

Hauger: It’s really nice. You are pushing the limits. Obviously not having that much practice in the dry, in Free Practice you just have to go out there and try to maximise it even though sometimes maybe the balance isn’t perfect you just have to try and push through it on this track. In the high speed, it’s a really fun track. A cool track to drive on.

FIA Formula 2: You mentioned your qualifying the last two weekends, you went from tenth to fifth in the Sprint Race in Austria, are you going to be in attacking form tomorrow too?

Hauger: Yeah we are always going to try and move forward. Depending on the weather we will see how it goes. I think we have the pace in both races. It’s just about being smart and taking it one step at a time tomorrow. I think we have the pace to move forward. Let’s see.

FIA Formula 2: Congratulations to everyone, well done today.