Round 5 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 here in Imola. In third place we have Isack Hadjar from Campos Racing, in second we have Victor Martins from ART Grand Prix, and our Pole sitter for the first time in FIA Formula 2, Richard Verschoor from Trident. Richard, Pole Position at Monaco, does it get any better than that?

Richard Verschoor: I don’t think so. I am really happy to be on Pole here. It is my first one so it quite a nice one to take. Of course I have to thank the team straight away. They gave me a good car. Everybody could have had a better car, even myself. I wasn’t satisfied completely but I did the lap, and I am really pleased.

FIA Formula 2: Your first Pole and second front row start, has it felt like a long time coming to get that Pole Position?

Verschoor: Of course, I think even in Formula 3 I didn’t have a Pole. I am super happy. To be fair I knew last year that I could have been on Pole. I was going purple by a long way, the year before my car broke down. I always had the potential here in Monaco but that is the ‘if’ story, so I am happy to have done it now.

FIA Formula 2: How much of the job do you feel you have done today and what are the things you will be working on ahead of Sunday?

Verschoor: With racing, everyday you start from zero. It is nice to be on Pole, of course I am happy, but every race is a new race. Anything can happen in Formula 2, so we have to keep our head down.

FIA Formula 2: Thank you and congratulations. Victor coming to you, quickest in Group B and 0.027s away from Pole Position. How do you reflect on your session?

Victor Martins: I think it was a challenging session for everyone, with no Free Practice in the dry, it is always difficult to be there and have the rhythm and confidence to push. In the end you need to do it at some point. We all have only three of four push laps before the end. I am happy. Thanks to ART because they gave me a good car today to be back on top. I think we needed this for our confidence going into the future.

FIA Formula 2: It’s been a tough start to the season, this is your first front row start of the year. Is it a case of Monaco allowing the driver to do something a little different to make the difference or do you think you have found something this weekend?

Martins: I believe that Monaco provides the driver more opportunities for the driver to show their performance. I think the performance is more on the drivers than the car, but you still need the car to do it. We did a good Free Practice, obviously it was dry today, but we prepared well. We will always make steps forward and we showed it today.

FIA Formula 2: How important do you think it will be to get solid points on the board over the next two days given how tricky the start of the season has been?

Martins: It will be important during the next two days to perform, to be at the front, to score points and maximise what we have. The start of the season, in terms of results and points, we were not there at all. When you have an opportunity and no points, you can overreact, over push and force things. That is not what we need to do today or in the future. We just need to do our best - me in the car with what I have and accept the situation.

FIA Formula 2: Isack, thanks for waiting. You are making a habit of being in these Press Conferences, third place for you today are you satisfied with that performance?

Isack Hadjar: I am satisfied with that, but that session was sub-optimal. I was not happy with my driving or how the car was set up. But it is what you get when you have zero milage in the dry. We could not work on the car yesterday to prepare it for today. So, there was a bit of discovery. I will obviously take P3, it is a good position for the races.

FIA Formula 2: You won from third on the grid in Imola last weekend. How will you go about trying to repeat that result on a track that is really hard to overtake on?

Hadjar: Anything can happen. It would be ideal. I am not thinking about the future too much already but if you get a good start and have decent pace then with a strong pit stop you can still make up some ground. We will look into the opportunities. It is all to play for.

FIA Formula 2: You had a really close moment in the tunnel. Can you talk us through that from your perspective?

Hadjar: It was my second push and in the tunnel I had to avoid a massive crash. It was quite a moment. I had to stay locked in, it was still a push lap even though I had to slow down a bit. I was still on my qualifying lap, so I needed to deliver. I didn’t really think about it during the session actually.

FIA Formula 2: Great stuff, thanks very much all.