Interview
FIA Formula 2: Hello from Qatar and welcome to the press conference of the top three finishes in the FIA Formula 2 Feature Race. In third place we have Gabriel Bortoleto from Invicta Racing, in second is Isack Hadjar from Campos Racing and taking his first win is Paul Aron from Hitech Pulse-Eight. Paul, you have finally done it, how does it feel to be a Formula 2 race winner?
Paul Aron: I can’t lie, it’s a bit of pressure off my shoulders. It hasn’t full sunk in yet. It’s been like that this year, we have gotten very close, it’s the fourth pole this weekend and we still hadn’t won a race. Looking at the stats, Hitech was the only team not to have won a race. I was thinking about how quick we have been and how many chances there have been, and we still hadn’t won a race. There was this thought, what if we don’t win a race this year, we have been so close so many times. There were some thoughts that probably weren’t helpful in the back of my head. I managed to still win the race and even though the start was not what I was looking for, we managed to stay close, play the strategy game. Then the Safety Car mixed everything up. At the end, lucky for me but unlucky for Gabriel he had the penalty that gave me the win. He won on track though so congrats to him too.
FIA Formula 2: In the second part of the race, once you were informed about Gabriel's penalty did you change your approach at all, did you feel like you had the pace to fight him if you needed to?
Aron: It’s always difficult because our plan was that if we got overtaken in the start, we go for the undercut. We did that and we were very close to him when I boxed, there was the opportunity to make it work. Then the Safety Car gave Gabriel the free pitstop, so he kept the track position. Then it is always a mess when you have the guys in front that haven’t pitted and then obviously the leaders are all together behind them. They always want to make up the places, the guys up front are not fighting for anything big so they have less to lose. In the end I tried to manage the race as much as possible, but I also had Isack behind so it’s not like I could just cruise around and wait for things to happen. It’s always tricky in those situations but you need to bide your time and take your opportunities.
FIA Formula 2: It’s been a strong weekend for you and you’re still in the title hunt heading to Abu Dhabi, twenty five and a half points back. With your future at Alpine announced and this win, maybe taking some pressure off, does it give you a free hit next weekend?
Aron: How much pressure you have is down to the mindset you have, of course the outside factor is the fact that I have this deal announced now and my future is set. This first win will help for sure but in the end, it is all down to the mindset you bring and even coming into this weekend I felt that was I was in a good place mentally before the weekend even started. Hitech gave me the car and ever since Friday we were flying. It’s been a very strong weekend. A lot of action outside the track as well, the announcement and all the media activities that came with it. I had to mute my phone just to stay focused on the races. I didn’t want to get ahead of myself. It will be nice to go to the last round, bit of a shame I am this far back. If it was two more points closer it would mean that if I win and the other guys don’t finish then I have a chance to win the Championship but at the moment it is not the case. Can’t lie it’s not the easiest position going into the last round, I can’t expect much more after the mid-season drought we had. Seven or eight races without points finishes and I think I scored most of my points with Pole Position. It’s normal when it goes like that, that’s part of life.
FIA Formula 2: Congratulations, Isack P2 for you achieved by four tenths of a second in the end, how tense were those final laps?
Isack Hadjar: There was no data really on the last three laps, I didn’t know what the gap was but visually it looked big. I thought I was off the five second margin. Then going into the last lap, he said “we have five tenths margin” so I knew it was going to be a quali lap basically. It was really fast. I had to push even though I was struggling for pace most of the race, for most of the weekend. Five tenths, looking at how fast he is, it could be easy, we managed to end within the five second window. I am really happy
FIA Formula 2: You made big progress in the race, ninth on the grid and fourth yesterday, is there a sense of relief to get back scoring some big results?
Hadjar: Yeah, yesterday was really painful because we made the gamble that didn’t pay off. I had a lot of degradation and somehow, I was still in the lead with three laps to go. My mistake cost us quite a few points. Today to bounce back felt really good.
FIA Formula 2: It’s a beautiful set up for the final round, what is your mindset ahead of the final round with just half a point between you?
Hadjar: It’s great, I was really worried that I didn’t maximise the result yesterday. Starting from ninth today I was ready to give up quite a few points to Gabriel. In the end to be just half a point away going to Abu Dhabi it’s great. It’s really exiting to go all in. Let’s see who gets it but it’s a really good position to be in and I’m happy.
FIA Formula 2: Gabriel, first across the line but third in the final result, just sum up your emotions after that one.
Gabriel Bortoleto: Obviously disappointed by having the penalty but it’s part of the game, that’s racing. I think Paul did a good job today, Isack as well. Fair play to them. P3 is not bad at the end of the day, we got some good points. It’s going to be very fun in Abu Dhabi, it’s always nice to fight for a Championship. The closer to the end of the season you get, the more emotional, just funny it gets. It’s nice to be part of a Championship that will become history for sure. I don’t think there was ever a Championship in F2 where two drivers were separated by less than half a point going to the final round, at least I think so. It’s going to be become history, congrats to Isack for his achievement. For Paul as well who is in the Championship fight. Let’s have some fun.
FIA Formula 2: It was all set up by today’s race, you had to fight your way through some backmarkers and people on the opposite strategy, there were some close fights in that. How tense was it out there?
Bortoleto: It depends when there are drivers who are on different strategies, they knew they weren’t fighting with me but apart from Isack’s teammate that was defending for his life. He is his teammate so it’s part of his job I believe. It was harder to overtake him, I lost a few corners. I managed to just put him in a bad position and cross him in the middle of the high speed, it was very nice. It was a nice move. Then you’ve got the car of Duerksen as well, he defended in a way that was tough at the end of the straight, I almost crashed because I had the DRS on, I moved and then he moved and then he released he didn’t move enough he kept moving and I almost went into the wall because the DRS was open. The rear becomes very loose, but I managed to make it turn, it was very close. After that it was quali lap after quali lap, trying to make a gap to Isack. I knew that to Paul it was going to be difficult because he was very fast this weekend, through the race from yesterday and today so target was just to finish five second in front of Isack. For a moment I thought that I had it because I couldn’t see him in the mirrors out of T9. He did a very good job not to make any mistakes at this end, and got the place.
FIA Formula 2: You said earlier in the week it feels like the pressure if off for you knowing what your future holds in moving up to Formula 1 next year. What would it mean to hold on to this lead and win the Championship next week?
Bortoleto: I would become one of the only ones to win F2 and F3 back-to-back as a rookie so that’s a good thing to have in your career. It’s not going to change my future anymore but it’s something that I should be proud of. I want to win this this Championship and I don’t want to win just to get to F1, I want to win because we put a lot of effort in as a team, as a family to pay for each Championship, all the sponsors, everyone. For me it would be amazing to give them the result, they deserve the visibility. I’m sorry for today’s mistake and we go for Abu Dhabi.
FIA Formula 2: Thank you all. Well done