Round 8 post-Qualifying press conference

FIA Formula 2: Welcome back to Silverstone and now it’s time for our top three in Qualifying for the FIA Formula 2 Feature Race. In third place, we have Jak Crawford for DAMS Lucas Oil, in second is Alexander Dunne for Rodin Motorsport and on Pole Position is Victor Martins for ART Grand Prix. Victor, you said last weekend how often you have been just on the wrong side in the fight pole but not today.

Victor Martins: Today was ours. I think we did a great day again. FP was really strong. We knew exactly what to improve for quali. Then run one was strong again, I was sitting in P1. A bit upset and not so happy about the balance I had, but we definitely made the right choices, we changed something, I wouldn’t say it was better, but it was more comfortable, and I delivered a good lap to get P1.

FIA Formula 2: It was purple sector after purple sector. Just how good did it feel inside the car as it was going ahead?

Martins: I think honestly from the first few corners in sector one on my last lap, I knew if I was just doing not more than what I should do, I was going to get at least a top three again. I was definitely aiming for pole, but I think the lap was really good. I think sector two, I had a bit more definitely, if, for example, on the second lap, I still had tyres, I could have improved sector two but the overall lap was quite good, a clean one, and I am on the good side today so it feels good.

FIA Formula 2: You have been up there a lot of the time, but race pace has not always followed your Qualifying performance. Do you have reasons to hope for better this weekend?

Martins: I think I am quite confident that since the beginning of the day we were always there. Every lap I completed was really strong, even in FP, the last few laps were always there, we didn’t have so much deg. So I am quite confident we can have a good car, and I can deliver a good lap every time, with some clean driving. I think the Red Bull Ring was something to put on the side, we know what went wrong. In the Sprint Race, which went wrong also, my floor was really damaged, so I could not get good data for Sunday, and I think our approach was wrong at the Red Bull Ring. So definitely if I get a clean weekend, I know on Sunday I will have everything in my hands to get the win.

FIA Formula 2: Good luck with that and well done today on your Pole Position. Alex, you said recently you wanted to improve your Qualifying, is a spot on the front row ticking that box?

Alexander Dunne: I guess it’s not bad. Overall, I think that the pace has always been there to be on the front row, it’s been about things clicking and putting it together. In the end today I was a little bit disappointed, my lap wasn’t great to be honest. There’s quite a decent amount of room for improvement, which is always not a bad position to be in going into Sunday. I think generally the pace was very good. In FP, we missed a little bit, so we made some changes that worked and during quali, we made some changes that also made it a little bit better, so happy to be on the front.

FIA Formula 2: Despite thinking there is room for improvement, you were less than a tenth off Pole Position. Where we the areas do you think you could have made some gains?

Dunne: I think there were some areas of driving, and a car in front of me out of Turn 7 made a mistake, and the track was covered in gravel, so I got quite a big snap and lost a bit of time there. Without that, there was already another chunk of lap time that could have been gained. These things happen, quali is not always going to go exactly how you want it to be and, in the end, P2 is still a good place to be.

FIA Formula 2: Well, speaking of being in a good place to be, you were sat on that exact same spot on Sunday after the Feature Race in Austria. Sadly, you didn’t get to keep that, but how good does it feel to be able to get straight back in the car this weekend and bounce back immediately?

Dunne: Pretty good. I wasn’t really thinking about Austria or anything coming into this weekend. I didn’t really feel like we needed to bounce back because the weekend was still really good. Of course, we had a disappointing end result after the news following the Feature Race, but for me I wasn’t too upset or disappointed. These things happen. I said to the team that I don’t blame them for pushing the limits, and things like this can happen all the time. So yeah, our pace has always been strong, I don’t think it was something we needed to bounce back from. We just needed to do the same thing we’ve done every weekend, which we did and the result was good.

FIA Formula 2: Well done today, thank you very much for that. And Jak, thanks for waiting. Third place for you, it’s just your third top three start this year, so are you satisfied with that result?

Jak Crawford: Yeah definitely. Coming off the triple-header where we didn’t have great qualifyings, still in the top 10 but not great qualifyings like last week in Austria, which was outside the top 10 in P14, so it’s definitely great to be back in the top three. That was kind of my aim, and we knew it was a track that would suit us, so happy to be back in the top three and we know we’re always there in the race, so it was all about qualifying well.

FIA Formula 2: What have been the reasons do you think for your up and down form in qualifying? Can you pinpoint them?

Crawford: Yeah just struggling to find a consistent way I think. We find every weekend quite different, always different challenges, it’s the same for everyone but already last year with the team, we seemed to struggle a bit more with consistency and this year has been a lot better, but it hasn’t been consistently at the front, it’s been consistently in the top 10. So I think we’re improving, and I think Red Bull Ring was a tough one because we had the potential to be quick there.

FIA Formula 2: Well, the points in the races have been good. I’ve got it written down here that you’ve been in the top six in the last eight races you’ve started. So you’ve got to have started the race to have got that, including two wins and two podiums. Are you confident you can keep that going here?

Crawford: Yeah I can. Free Practice was strong over the long run, I was improving all the way to my last lap in Free Practice and did really well here last year in the race, winning on the track before getting a penalty. So I think the car is going to be good here in the race. The race wasn’t what I was worried about, I was more worried about the qualifying and qualifying well. Now that we’ve done that, I feel good that we can have a good result on Sunday.

FIA Formula 2: Thank you very much.