Round 3 Post Feature Race Press Conference

FIA Formula 2: Hello and welcome to today's FIA Formula 2 press conference following a thrilling Feature Race here in Montreal. Joining us in P3 from MP Motorsport is Gabriele Mini. In second place from Rodin Motorsport, it's Alexander Dunne. Also from Rodin, capturing victory at our very first FIA Formula 2 Feature Race here in Canada, it's Martinius Stenshorne. Martinius, a great drive capturing your first win in Formula 2. How does that feel?

Martinius Stenshorne: It feels very good. The pace has been very good all year. Just the Feature Race hasn't worked out as we wanted. So to finally finish the Feature Race and end it on top feels amazing.

FIA Formula 2: It looked like a wild race out there, I mean, from our perspective at least. How were you able to keep it clean?

Stenshorne: Yeah, we just had to try to stay out of trouble, overtaking the cars as well that hadn't pitted. It was a bit of a challenge, but I think we got through it well. Rodin gave me a very good car as well today. So a big, big thank you to them.

FIA Formula 2: Can you just take me through how you were able to break the DRS in that late safety car there?

Stenshorne: My safety car restart itself wasn't amazing, but then I think we had good tyre temp and the car felt good. So pushed quite hard and managed to get out of it and yeah, that's it.

FIA Formula 2: Alex, coming to you, congratulations. How did you find the restarts out there? Were they challenging keeping heat in the tyre?

Alexander Dunne: Yeah, it was very difficult. I had an issue on the final restart with the brakes and I had the brake alarm on my dash. So I tried to warm the brakes up as much as possible, but no matter what I did, they were too cold for the restart. So as soon as I pressed the brake into Turn 13 before the restart, it actually happened that, pretty much I had no brakes. So the first lap of the restart was very, very difficult. But luckily the pace and the feeling in the car was still good enough to hang on to P2.

FIA Formula 2: Yeah, it did feel like a weekend where it was who could learn the track the fastest. How did you see it?

Dunne: I think coming away with P2 in the Feature Race obviously is not bad, but I think there was more left in it overall. I got traffic in qualifying when we could have been on pole. I finished P2 yesterday, but my own mistake took that P2 away from me. And then today, because of the grid penalty, which is also my own fault, I had to start P6. So being behind Martinius meant we had to double stack during the safety car. So I lost a lot of time in the pit lane. So far there's just too many mistakes and they need to be gone.

FIA Formula 2: I asked a few of the drivers yesterday about what they thought about the track here in Canada, Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve. What did you make of it?

Dunne: I really enjoyed it. I think already being Miami was cool and I really enjoyed that weekend. And I think I enjoyed this one more, which I didn't necessarily expect. I think I also expected the racing here to be a lot harder than what it was, with it being there's only one long DRS zone, let's say. And for the rest of it, they're mainly medium speed corners and those types of corners usually provide a lot of dirty air in F2. So I think I didn't expect the racing to be as good as it was. But in the end, coming to the field, it was actually much easier than I expected. I wouldn't call it easy, but it was still, racing, there was good opportunities for overtakes, which is cool.

FIA Formula 2: Gabi, we'll come to you. You've been on a roll here this weekend. Podium yesterday, in the sprint, podium today. I mean, how wild was the race out there for you?

Gabriele Mini: I mean, it was very wild, to be honest. The pace hasn't been great, so it was a lot about staying away from troubles. I did a very good start. I think I gained three or four positions there. And then after that, as I said, I was struggling a bit, so I just had to keep it on track, which is what we did. The team did a good job on the pit stop. We managed to gain a few places. And after that, to be honest, it was all about, you know, once again, keeping it clean. I didn't do too many overtakes, but I ended up gaining positions. So that's what mattered today. And as I said, even yesterday was a bit similar situation for me.

FIA Formula 2: Well, you took over the lead in the championship this weekend. Just how challenging is it going to be to hang on to it?

Mini: I mean, for sure, it's going to be very challenging. We've got, I think, 11 weekends to go still. As I said, we need to still work a bit more to find some more pace from these guys here. Because clearly, we were not as quick as them. Probably at the end, after the last safety car restart, we were a bit closer. But at the beginning, we were struggling a bit more. So for sure, it's not going to be easy. But as I already mentioned yesterday, it's way too early, you know, 22 races to go. We are still in May. It's way too long to think about that. As I said, I will focus lap by lap, race after race, trying to stay out of trouble and gain points whenever I can. And then we will see after the last run in December.

FIA Formula 2: We saw the fans down at the hairpin giving you all a standing ovation at the end of this race. What was the atmosphere been like for Formula 2 here this weekend?

Mini: Yeah, I mean, I didn't see that, but it's always very cool. You know, there are so many fans out of the paddock, which is not very usual. Everyone, you know, wanting a picture or just supporting their favourite driver is amazing. You know, I think I've never seen the grandstand so full after a race, which is crazy. You know, even to see yesterday, I remember starting on pole, you could see all the grandstand full. And yeah, it's a cool atmosphere.

FIA Formula 2: Thanks all.