Thoughts from Hauger, Daruvala & Armstrong

FIA Formula 2: Many congratulations to the top three finishers of the FIA Formula 2 Sprint Race here in Monaco. In third place, is Marcus Armstrong for Hitech Grand Prix. In second place, Jehan Daruvala for PREMA and taking his first win in FIA Formula 2, our winner, Dennis Hauger, also for PREMA. Well, Dennis, you've done it. You're a winner in Formula 2, and in Monaco to boot. It was a very dominant and controlled performance. What was the overriding emotion on the podium?

Dennis Hauger: Like a dream to be honest. Obviously, I was watching Monaco and F1 generally as a kid. It's my first time here and to get the win is a really nice feeling. I got a decent start, Jake stalled and from then on I just had to try and control it a bit. After the safety car as I struggled a bit to get everything you know in temperature, but from then on felt like the pace was pretty good and I could control it quite a bit, overall really happy with the day and hopefully we can do a good job tomorrow as well.

FIA Formula 2: Dennis, how good was your getaway at the start? Do you think you've had a chance of beating Jake, had he got away himself?

Hauger: I think the launch itself was really good. Obviously, there's not a long straight before Turn 1. So it's not an easy place to get the move done. But I felt the launch was good, so definitely would have been side by side but then in the end we can't think of what could have been. I'm so happy with this win.

FIA Formula 2: And how have you found the challenge of Monaco in a Formula 2 car?

Hauger: To be honest, Free Practice was quite good. I was P3 and felt everything was quite nice, I struggled a bit more in Qualifying to just get a rhythm and get a nice feeling of it, so it was not as good as I would have wanted. But I'm just really enjoying the ride around there.

FIA Formula 2: And Dennis, what does this performance do for your confidence going forward? Do you think it could be a launchpad for the rest of the season?

Hauger: I think we've built some speed up through the season. Barcelona was disappointing, but I'm really happy we could turn things around a bit and get that first win. So hopefully this can be a turning point for us.

FIA Formula 2: Well, best of luck with that, and many congratulations again today. Jehan, let's come on to you. Many congratulations on an 11th career podium for you. After slotting into P2 at the start, was there ever a chance of overtaking your teammate?

Jehan Daruvala: To be honest, no. I had a good start, I don't know what happened because I was just focusing on avoiding Jake. I tried to put as much pressure as I could on Dennis in the first three or four laps. I could just about stay within DRS so I was not quick enough to attempt the pass at any point. Until the Safety Car, I felt quite comfortable at his pace. I wasn't really in trouble at all. But I struggled a lot with graining after the Safety Car. I need to look at what I did just because my front left was completely finished after the Safety Car. Then I just tried to bring the car home, you know, it was near impossible to catch and overtake him. So P2 was going to be the best result and after a DNF in Barcelona, the most important thing was to just bring the car home and get a one-two for the team.

FIA Formula 2: And what have you learned today that could help you in tomorrow's Feature Race if it's dry?

Daruvala: I think one thing for sure it's hard to overtake. I think everyone knows that but I had a decent start today. Hopefully, I can have another one tomorrow. Make a couple of positions up in the beginning and have a good strategy and try to score as many points as possible. Obviously, it's difficult to get on the podium from eighth, but it's not impossible. So we'll try our best.

FIA Formula 2: Good luck with that. Thank you, Jehan. Marcus, coming to you. You won the Sprint Race at Imola. You're now back on the podium here at Monaco, do you feel you're starting to get some momentum now in Formula 2?

Marcus Armstrong: As I said in Imola, I think that the performance is, is definitely there and yesterday, it was okay. Obviously, we're in a good position for both races. But we missed out on the opportunity to do a mega lap in Qualifying with Felipe having an accident on the last corner. So we didn't, again, show our full potential and that last lap of mine, I think was going to be quite okay. But nevertheless, it's put me in a position to be able to fight for a podium today. It's a good stepping stone for the future.

FIA Formula 2: What about track temperature? It was much lower than anything that you'd experienced over the rest of the weekend. How did that affect performance?

Armstrong: I wouldn't know, to be honest, I was just driving the thing as fast as it goes. The grip that I had was pretty mega. I was going for the fastest lap, but it was a bit difficult because Jehan was sort of backing me up a wee bit so I would sort of having to do a cool-down lap, push, cool-down lap, push. And every time I was on a cool-down lap I seemed to be on the same lap time as Jehan in front so it was difficult to get enough room to push properly on the following lap. But despite that, I think Hitech has done a mega job in the car and if it's dry tomorrow I think the car is very strong for tomorrow's Feature Race.

FIA Formula 2: Best of luck with that.