2019 Round 2 post-Qualifying press conference

FIA Formula 2: Welcome to today’s press conference with the top three drivers in Qualifying for the FIA Formula 2 Feature Race in Azerbaijan. We are joined by Polesitter Nobuharu Matsushita from Carlin, second placed Nyck De Vries from ART Grand Prix and in third is Luca Ghiotto from UNI-Virtuosi Racing. Nobu, we will start with you. Your second pole position at this level, just how good was that?

Nobuharu Matsushita: I feel really good. The last time here was in 2017 and obviously I did well in Qualifying. I know that the key is the race but I am still happy.

FIA Formula 2: How hard is it to hook up a lap around here, like you say, you have been quick here before, but it is a street circuit where you need big confidence?

Nobuharu: Yeah, I had a really good Free Practice and the car was quite okay and then I analysed a lot of the data after practice and I basically put everything together for qualifying.

FIA Formula 2: Congratulations. Now Nyck, moving onto you. Third place in qualifying in Bahrain, second place in qualifying here, so it has been a strong start in terms of on that front this season?

Nyck De Vries: You could conclude that, but that hasn’t given us any points so far, unfortunately, but yeah we had a steady qualifying session today and we were there on both sets, but I think that Nobu with Carlin were clearly too strong today. I’m still happy with front row and the race is on tomorrow, so I will make sure that I give it a shot, but it will be a very long race.

FIA Formula 2: We didn’t have the F1 First Practice session really do much today, so how tricky were track conditions for you guys, when you are trying to push in qualifying and the track hasn’t been cleaned up?

Nyck: This morning it was extremely dusty and we were hoping that Formula 1 was going to clean things up a little bit, but unfortunately that didn’t happen, so the track conditions were not much better than this morning to be honest. I think even for tomorrow’s race, offline is still extremely dusty so that is going to be interesting, but hopefully F1 is going to do a good job in cleaning things up for us.

FIA Formula 2: Thank you, and Luca moving on to you. Pole position in Bahrain and another top three in qualifying here, so it has been strong for you as well, but were you surprised by perhaps Nobu and this qualifying session?

Luca Ghiotto: I think it was good for us in the first half of qualifying. I think that I got held up a little bit by Mazepin on the last lap, but still, that would not have been enough to take pole. I maybe could have had a chance to be P2, but I am not really sure about that. There were some issues with the car and there was some really good power at the end, but I think that tomorrow we can be happy, because we were quick this morning on the prime tyres, which are the most important ones for the race and we will be almost there with the options as well. Of course, I think we always want better than what we do but P3 is still a good run out.

FIA Formula 2: We have seen some chaotic races here in Baku in the past, so starting from third do you attack these guys early on tomorrow, or do you try and stay out of trouble, how do you approach it?

Luca: I think that I have had an unlucky run here in Baku in the past and I am not even sure if I have got one point in three years of racing. I have crashed a couple of times and I don’t know, I think that what I really have in mind this weekend is just to finish both races and get points. That is the first thing because it is a long championship and this is just the second race. For sure, if the speed and the chance to win is there, we will try and do that, but the first thing is just to have a clean race, to have a clean pit stop and to finish it and get good points.

FIA Formula 2: Nobu, just returning to you. You mentioned 2017 and how strong you were in qualifying there, but you had some tricky races, so is it even sweeter to get this result?

Nobuharu: The key is the race and it is important to survive for the race and until the last lap, so I would like to focus on that to grab some points and not make any stupid mistakes.