Round 9 Post Sprint Race Press Conference

FIA Formula 2: Hello and welcome to the Press Conference of the Top 3 finishers here in Spa-Francorchamps, for the FIA Formula 2 Sprint Race, in third place is Gabriele Mini from PREMA Racing, in second is Victor Martins for ART Grand Prix and taking his second win is Leonardo Fornaroli from Invicta Racing. Leo, you went all that time for a race win and then two come along in two race weekends, just how do you feel?

Leonardo Fornaroli: Yeah, very happy. We managed to have a very good start and to lead into T1. Then we had the Safety Car and the race restart, I was just managing and controlling behind to be able to have a gap and to get out of the DRS of Cordeel. He tried to attack me one time in T5 but I managed to defend. I saw I was pulling away, so I started to manage a lot better the tyres, because I know here the deg and the overheating is quite high. Everything was very sensitive. Then with the gap behind I was quite calm. Then with the Safety Car I saw that a lot of cars pitted for Option tyres, my engineer asked me if I wanted to pit when I was in the Bus Stop, it was very on the limit, I really didn’t know what to do but I was still feeling good with the tyres so I decided to stay out. Lots of cars pitted, we were left with only five on Prime, the rest were on Options so I knew it was going to be really difficult, also because the circuit is very long. There are lots of corners to recover us. Also I had Victor behind, he has a lot of experience and he is very quick. I knew it was not going to be easy, but I felt super good with the car. Like Silverstone, I managed to be quick at the start but without destroying the tyres. After the Safety Car restart I was able to push and improve my lap times. We managed to stay in front and take the win, so I am very happy again with this one.

FIA Formula 2: You mentioned it, the start was critical to this result, did it go better than expected? We are used to seeing overtakes on the Kemmel Straight but you jumped a whole row by the first corner.

Fornaroli: Yes, it was my goal to overtake one or two cars into T1, all the practice starts were good yesterday so I knew we had great potential. I am happy it went very well at the start.

FIA Formula 2: According to my maths, you are just eight points off the Championship lead, do you think you can make even more progress into that gap tomorrow?

Fornaroli: It’s going to be hard now, eight points to P1 in the Championship means nothing still because we have many rounds to go. Also because tomorrow anything can happen. It looks like it is going to rain a lot, it’s not going to be easy, but I will try my best.

FIA Formula 2: Well done today, Victor somehow just your second podium finish of this season, how much fun was that fighting through from sixth?

Victor Martins: Yeah finally, I enjoyed a lot the fighting towards the front. I started P6, the start was just correct, but I think Turn 1 was really good. I managed to get on the outside, overtake a few guys there. Then I got a good run into Les Combes, but then we had the VSC at that point. I think the pace was positive today. It led me to be able to fight, to go ahead and recover some positions. So that is super positive for tomorrow, for the future. I think we are always struggling a bit in the races but now I think we are one of the strongest with Leo. I think it is good for the future, we did everything right today. I had a little contact, but I don’t think I was the one at fault there, I was fully in control on the outside and fully ahead. It was a bit tough to say to myself, with Cordeel we created the Safety Car and I was like “come on, I’m P2, I create the Safety Car, then people are going on Softs and they will catch me and overtake me back” it was a bit difficult to manage this situation. But the pace was what was positive today.

FIA Formula 2: Was there a decision to be made for you in terms of pitting for Softs, did you have a discussion?

Martins: I said no but I don’t think they wanted to do it either as the pace as good until that Safety Car. I had good momentum, I don’t know if I was really catching Leo but I think I was just looking ahead, overtaking people and I think I knew I was going to be able to keep that momentum and not have any degradation. It’s just a decision you need to make in the moment, sometimes it isn’t the right one, sometimes yes. Maybe with the cars behind me, if I had pitted, I could have taken back Gabriele and Goethe but we’ll never know. We made this decision, and I think it was good.

FIA Formula 2: Leo mentioned the rain tomorrow, regardless of if it’s wet or dry you will be starting in a similar position, do you think you can target the same result and another podium on Sunday?

Martins: For sure 100% I think the pace is normally good in the wet, we were just struggling with something in Silverstone that we are not happy with, but we know exactly what to do in the wet. If it’s wet, I am prepared, and the team is prepared. And in the dry I think we have a good race to analyse and get some feedback on. I feel we are in for the same or even more.

FIA Formula 2: Well done today. Gabriele moving onto you, your second podium of the season, how pleased are you to get these points and the trophy after what has been a tough run of results?

Gabriele Mini: I am very happy, very proud, especially after a difficult round in Silverstone. I am very happy to be back on the podium, I think yesterday every lap we were within the Top 3, just missed out of the Top 3 in the end. In the end it was two tenths and just some traffic in the lap, not an ideal situation but still. The pace was much better than what it has been like in Silverstone and I think today we showed it. We got a really good start. We did some nice overtaking and we made the right decision at the end without boxing. Once I managed to overtake the last car on the Options and stay on the podium, so very positive and I’m very happy about it.

FIA Formula 2: You were already making progress and fighting your way through to the podium, how tough was that call to make a pitstop or not?

Mini: Seeing what happened on the screens and also the number of cars that boxed, I just saw one in front for me it was quite clear to stay on track. Also at the same time, when you see everyone behind boxing it is a bit tricky because I was almost the last on Prime in that moment. I just stayed on track and I hoped for the best, in the end we were lucky that there was only one lap under the Safety Car, so the others had to do out push and without warming up the tyres it is quite complicated. Plus, we had five laps and deg starts eating already after four so with everything that happened, I think it went our way.

FIA Formula 2: it was a smart decision there, you came into this weekend with a grid penalty, but you essentially cancelled that out with this drive, how determined were you to make up some positions today?

Mini: The goal wasn’t really to make up the positions or do anything crazy, I think the goal is always to do the best thing possible. Get a good start, clean driving, clean overtaking without getting caught in some incidents or crashes, I think that is exactly what we did. We did it really well and pace helped us to do this. Tomorrow we will start from a similar position so I already have a bit of an idea as to what could happen but of course as it’s been said, there could be rain and that would change everything.

FIA Formula 2: Congratulations, well done everyone.