Round 11 Post Qualifying Press Conference

FIA Formula 2: Welcome back to Monza where it is now time for the top three Qualifiers in FIA Formula 2. For the Feature Race, qualifying third is Roman Stanek for Invicta Racing, second is Kush Maini for DAMS Lucas Oil and taking Pole Position for the first time in Formula 2 is Luke Browning for Hitech TGR. Luke, congratulations, it feels strange to say it’s your first pole in Formula 2. This must feel like it has been a long time coming for you.

Luke Browning: Yeah. It’s quite funny. In Jeddah, I was on pole with two minutes to go and a red flag, but it got resumed with two minutes to go and I got done by Jak at the time by like a thousandths. I was absolutely gutted because then in the following weeks, my teammate got on pole with seven minutes, then red flag and it got cancelled. Here it was like 12 minutes to go and then we went out, back again, and then another Red Flag, so it’s like it came back in a circle. So, it’s nice to finally be on pole.

FIA Formula 2: You mentioned it being a stop-start session. How tricky was it to get your laps up with getting into a true rhythm?

Browning: That’s the nature of it really in Formula 2. You get out, you turn up to different tracks around the world, some you haven’t driven very much of. We are quite lucky to race here in Formula 3 and Formula 2, so we drive it quite a lot, so when we are getting into Qualifying, when we get the opportunity to push, we know roughly where the limit is, so often you find that the first push is quite close to what the maximum is. Of course I don’t think we quite reached that today. I think many people could have improved, but to be honest, so could I. I am glad it finished when it did because I am pole but equally it would have been nice for it to run it’s full course.

FIA Formula 2: With two of three drivers ahead of you in the Championship fight having trouble in that session and Crawford all the way down. Does it feel like a potentially big weekend for you?

Browning: Let’s see come Sunday and Saturday because it’s all about the races here and anything can happen. Last year it was won from last so anything can happen. Equally we are starting in the best place, so it’s very nice, but I am also very realistic here, that ultimately race pace is very important and it’s important to be smart in the races, strategy will come into it, we have got two softer compounds this year, so we are likely to see a lot more deg, maybe the Option stint is extended and maybe we get a Safety Car come out in that window, when people could be boxing on Lap 7, others could be on Lap 15. So it looks like the laps to stop is a wide window. It’s going to be an exciting race I think.

FIA Formula 2: Well done today, congratulations on Pole Position. Kush, moving on to you now, second on the grid. Your best qualifying result of the season so far as well, how good did you feel on track?

Kush Maini: I feel good in general after the break, it’s no secret the last three months we have been struggling a lot with confidence in the car. At this level when everything isn’t working, you are just way down, but we worked really hard through the break, and I finally found my mojo again a bit, especially in FP already from Lap 1, I think we were P1 for most of the session and every lap was really competitive. Quali, we were P1 and then the Red Flag and then Luke did a great lap. But like I said, it was cut short, everytime we had the time to deliver this weekend we have. It’s just nice to finally feel at home with the car again.

FIA Formula 2: It has been so up and down for you this season. But after the work done in the break, do you feel comfortable you and the team can deliver consistently between now and the end of the year?

Maini: I hope so. F2 is strange as you know but I think this is our potential, and this is where we want to be and deserve to be every weekend, and for some reason, it has not really clicked, but I am happy to be back here in the front and hopefully we have two good races.

FIA Formula 2: You had the Sprint win in Monaco, but no podium in a Feature Race so far this season. Do you feel you have the race pace to change that?

Maini: Yeah, honestly the race pace has been good this last two, three rounds, it’s just that we have been starting like 20th. To be honest especially in Budapest, it’s quite difficult to overtake. But the race pace there was one of the quickest, we have been really good in the races, it’s just that quali pace the last six rounds has been a real struggle for us. So it’s nice to finally get that off my back and going into this weekend with two strong positions.

FIA Formula 2: Good luck in the races, congratulations on P2 today. Roman, thanks for waiting. P3 makes it three top threes in Qualifying for you. You must be loving the one lap pace at the moment?

Roman Stanek: Yeah, it’s good. It always feels good to drive an F2 car around a circuit like this, in quali trim. Shame that it wasn’t the full course because the quali was interrupted a bit with many Red Flags and many issues, but it’s a good starting position for tomorrow and also for Sunday.

FIA Formula 2: A bit similar to the question we asked Luke but how did you find it trying to get into a rhythm with all those interruptions in that session?

Stanek: It’s quite difficult but at this level you study the track so much, you spend a lot of time preparing on the sim and you know the track from past years. So I would say already in Free Practice you find the limit and with the step of the compound, on the Supersoft in quali, you have one lap and then you know the limit, so it was a shame that we couldn’t show the proper pace like if we had a normal quali.

FIA Formula 2: In terms of race pace, four podiums in the past four race weekends. How much confidence does that mean you are coming into each event with?

Stanek: Yeah, it’s nice. I have been working very hard. Obviously the first rounds of the season weren’t so good, I was struggling, we were unlucky, also I think I improved as a driver, and understood the team, but it gives me a big boost of confidence, and in the end, I am just doing my best. I am always trying to give my best in every session and it’s working so far.

FIA Formula 2: Well done today, thank you very much.