Round 12 Post-Sprint Race Press Conference

FIA Formula 2: Hello from Baku where it's time for the press conference with the top three finishers in today's FIA Formula 2 Sprint race. In third place we have Gabriele Minì for PREMA Racing. Second is Jak Crawford for DAMS Lucas Oil and your race winner is Joshua Durksen for AIX Racing. Josh, congratulations your first win in Formula 2. Just how does that feel?

Joshua Durksen: It's just crazy. I mean, I'm still not processing everything because at the start of the season, I was not expecting to already have three podiums during the year. I was expecting in this half of the season to start scoring some points, being just in the top ten because I know the jump from FRECA to F2 is really big. The drivers we have here is of course really top class So I knew it was going to be really difficult to be fighting for the wins. I am just extremely happy that I could manage to get it now in my rookie season. Especially because it's my first time here. After Free Practice, I though Baku will be tricky, but luckily the track improved so I was feeling more confident. Be thankful to God, to my team, to my sponsor, for everybody's hard work to make this happen. And yeah, just an incredible feeling.

FIA Formula 2: You were really fast today once you got into the lead, you were pulling away so quickly. What was your reaction when the Safety Car came out?

Durksen: I thought no, please don't. I saw on the screen a car inside the wall. I was like, no, I will have Safety Car now. I was hoping for a Virtual Safety Car because this would help me a lot. But sadly, the Safety Car came out and I was like alright, now I have to make sure I get a good restart. Then I just kept going and luckily, I studied this track a lot and I knew that on the Safety Car restart many guys would go straight on T1 because this happened many times last year. So, I was really cautious on the braking for T1, and I still almost went off. So luckily, I prepared myself pretty well for this. After I was just pushing like qualifying laps just to make sure Jak was out of the DRS zone. From there I was just managing the tyres to get home.

FIA Formula 2: Well, as you say, you had the pace to break clear of Jak after that Safety Car period, do you feel like you were strong enough today that you could be in the mix tomorrow as well from seventh?

Durksen: Let's see. I mean, always when you're in the front, it's a bit easier to follow the other cars. Starting P7 tomorrow it will be a bit more tricky because we'll have more cars around me, but I still think I could manage this. I will have to do some extra work to overtake the guys before the tyres drop and then I will have a have a clean run. But yeah, for sure I think it's possible again, but of course the task will be a bit more difficult tomorrow.

FIA Formula 2: Well, good luck tomorrow and well done today on the victory, Jak P2 for you, you started second and finished second, but that doesn't really tell the whole story as it looked like the start cost you a little, what happened there?

Jak Crawford: Yeah, it's. It was an interesting start. I wasn't expecting that to be honest. Maybe it was a bit dirty, and we just got it a bit wrong. Not a great start, obviously fell back to 4th, although I knew it was going to be a long race. We were still in the DRS train, and I wasn't under any pressure from behind really, so it was a long race. I slowly made my way up past Kush Maini. Then I was actually about to pass Gabriele Minì when the when the Safety Car came out and then everyone had no grip at the restart, so I managed to gain another position. Not quite fast enough for the win, but good points for sure.

FIA Formula 2: I guess from your point of view, the Safety Car was pretty welcome that it bunched the pack up. Did you expect to be able to maybe challenge Josh in those final few laps?

Crawford: I thought I was going to be quite fast because I was making my way through the guys ahead, I thought, I did a strong warm-up during the Safety Car restart - actually my first lap after I was quite close, I think I was within six-to-seven tenths, but then again we were probably both pushing quite hard and straight away I had some degradation being that close. So, unfortunate I couldn't stay with him.

FIA Formula 2: You mentioned passing Christian Mansell and then passing Gabriele as well. How impressed have you been with the rookies at the front?

Crawford: Yeah, not bad. I knew they would be quick, I had a bunch of them qualifying around me. So having the battle with them, obviously they're very strong drivers, so of course they're going to be up there.

FIA Formula 2: Well done today. Congratulations on second place. Gabriele, also a huge congratulations to you. Did you ever imagine you'd be on the podium in your first F2 race?

Gabriele Minì: Well, thank you. First of all, I didn't set any expectation coming into this week, without having done a single day in the car. So it was for sure nothing I could expect. We straight away had a pretty good start today and then we managed to race. So yeah, not bad, I’m very happy to be here.

FIA Formula 2: You got a really good start there, were you starting to dream of the victory in the opening few laps when you were following Christian?

Minì: Not really. It's not something I was thinking about because I knew the race was long. I remember when I went to overtake Christian, I asked how many laps there were to go. We were not even halfway, and it felt like ages had been and gone. Yeah, I was not really thinking about it. I was just thinking about trying to manage my tyres as going as fast as possible and keeping these guys behind.

FIA Formula 2: Well, tomorrow's gonna be an even longer race, so what have you learned from your first race in formula 2 today?

Minì: Well, for sure, I think I started learning a bit of the techniques, you know saving techniques. It's not the same as F3. There’s a bit less degradation, but there's another kind of form of driving. Let's say it's not been very easy. Also, I tapped the wall so I did half of the race with the steering bent, so it's also more experience in case it happens again. So hopefully we will not have to deal with that.

FIA Formula 2: Thank you very much, well done today.