Round 4 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 Oliver Bearman from PREMA Racing, and our pole sitter is Gabriel Bortoleto of Invicta Racing. Gabriel great start to a poignant weekend for you, I saw you pointing to the Senna logo on your helmet after the Pole lap, just how special did that feel?

Gabriel Bortoleto: It’s great to be back, it’s very special to me. It’s Imola which is my favourite track. The Senna family and the institute allowed me to use his logo and make a tribute to him after 30 years. Taking Pole position here, as he as the ‘King of Qualifying’ for me it was a pleasure to Pole with his logos on my helmet.

FIA Formula 2: It took until that final lap to get Pole secured, did it feel like you needed to take some risks to get that or did you have it in you the whole way through the session?

Bortoleto: We knew that the lap was going to come on the second push, we were targeting that. I was expecting to do it in the second push not the first one. I just put the lap together. It’s something that I was unable to do in the last few rounds. Finally, a decent lap. We showed where the cars are as well. Invicta have done a great job in setting up the car. Just very happy with that.

FIA Formula 2: You were on Pole Position in Bahrain as well, and scored a load of points off that weekend, but it has been a tough few rounds since then. How important does it feel to get some more points on the board this weekend?

Bortoleto: It is very important to me, I feel quite lost in the Championship right now outside of the Top 10. I know that this is not actually the position that we should be in with the speed that we have. We proved that today and in Bahrain, in Melbourne we had a good Qualifying session. I am just racing. Sometimes you can make things work easily and sometimes everything that can go wrong does. Of all the DNF’s we had, two of them were out of our control in terms of mechanical problems and out of control of the team as well. I think now if everything goes right we will score points consistently and do a great job, that’s my target.

FIA Formula 2: Well done, good job today. Ollie a whirlwind few hours for you. How relieved are you to be sat there and back in second place after that initial penalty?

Oliver Bearman: Well, I wasn’t looking forward to starting from the back rows for another weekend because so far in Formula 2 I have only started at the back. It was looking like a long weekend, and I am glad the lap got reinstated.

FIA Formula 2: Aside from that focusing on your performance in that session. How strong was the lap and how good did it feel to be fighting for pole again?

Bearman: I think with Bahrain as the exception, we have fought for pole in every race weekend so far. I was on pole in Jeddah, I had an engine failure in Australia when I was going for the Top 3. I don’t think it was ever in doubt for me and my team around me that we are going to be fighting for the Pole come Qualifying. I only just missed out today.

FIA Formula 2: You obviously had not only the F2 Practice Session but also your Formula 1 FP1 outing earlier today. How tough was it to make that transition from F1 to F2, did the experience from Abu Dhabi help there?

Bearman: For sure the experience of Abu Dhabi helped. If you remember I struggled to jump back into the F2 there. I took the lessons from that and tried to implement them as well as possible to be straight on the pace in F2 Qualifying. The problem is you don’t have many laps in Qualifying, so you have to be straight on it or you pay the price. From Lap 1 I was very competitive and that set the tone for the session. It is tough to jump back and forth, the cars are very different in the way you drive them and the way you approach but I think I did a better job today.

FIA Formula 2: Yes, well done today on your second place, Isack it is a third place for you, are you satisfied with a place in the top three or did the front row feel within reach?

Isack Hadjar: P3 is my real position on the timings, so I will take it. It was a decent Qualifying. A messy first run, I couldn’t complete either of my laps so it was not the perfect way to start the second run. I had a lot of queueing in the last sector so the tyres weren’t really there. Then I had a really decent lap, the car felt amazing but not enough for Pole. It is what it is.

FIA Formula 2: It’s been nearly two months since the last round in Australia, you won that one. Even with the break does it feel like you are managing to keep the momentum going with a result like this to start the weekend.

Hadjar: Yeah I think that I have been competitive in all rounds, not just Melbourne. Everywhere we go I have a good car, that’s the most important thing to me. To be consistently at the front and fighting for high positions.

FIA Formula 2: This looks like a great track for Qualifying, how do you think it is going to play out in the two races, do you think it is going to be tough to make progress?

Hadjar: Imola is not the best place for overtaking, it is all about having a good start and seeing if the tyres are hanging on. I am not looking to gain places every lap, that’s for sure.

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