Round 2 Post-Sprint Race Press Conference

FIA Formula 2: Welcome back to Bahrain where it’s now time to hear from our top three finishers in the FIA Formula 2 Sprint Race. In third place, we have Joshua Duerksen for AIX Racing. Second place goes to Richard Verschoor for MP Motorsport and your race winner for Campos Racing, Josep María Martí. Pepe, P11 to the victory on the last lap, can you tell us what just happened?

Josep María Martí: I have to re-watch it to tell you honestly. But I had so many close calls. I hit poor Richard in T6 a bit with I think four laps to go or something. I'm really sorry for that. No, it was a crazy race from start to end. I was fighting with Alex for about four laps and looking in my mirrors into T1, is he gonna go for it, is he not gonna go for it? Given that it's Alex, he was going for it, but no, it was a crazy race, and honestly, I think we managed it pretty well. I was just taking my chances, and in the last few laps, honestly, was a lottery, like there was not much I could do. I was just going into the corner and saying, 'okay, there's two guys on the inside. I'm going to try to get a switchback'. And it could have worked, it could have not worked. Today went my way. But, yeah, that's a part of racing.

FIA Formula 2: You were sixth on the final restart after that late Safety Car and as you say, you picked off a couple of drives at a time. What was going through your mind, though, at that restart? What were you realistically targeting?

Martí: You never know. I think on restarts, especially at a track like this, where overtaking is quite easy, you're looking around 360 degrees into the first corner on the restart, I think it was Richard and Dunne, or someone going quite deep, and I thought I had margin to cut back, and I got hit by Roman entering Turn 1 so I was full opposite lock, trying not to spin. And then eventually was three-wide, with Alex on my right, Luke on my left, Richard in front. So, it was complete mayhem. But, I think I made the right choices. I think I took all the right decisions, and I think that's something that I've always been quite good at, driving through the field, making right decisions in wheel-to-wheel racing. So yeah, I think it was pretty much that.

FIA Formula 2: And your second win in Formula 2, but how important does it feel to get one under your belt early this season?

Martí: Honestly, I don't really care in that sense. I mean, it's 10 points, it's not 25. It's not quite meaningless, but it's quite meaningless ahead of the Championship fight, I know that, obviously it's points that you keep on racking up. And in Australia, we were lucky that we didn't have a Feature Race, because in the end, we were starting in 12th or 16th or something like that, so I don't think we would have scored many points. So on the bright side, I think we have a lot of pace, and today we proved that, and we did a really great race. And from a championship standpoint, I'm just hoping that tomorrow we can at least get P5 to match the 10 points and then try to go forward again.

FIA Formula 2: Well, congratulations today on a brilliant win. Richard, P2 for you today, your 15th podium in Formula 2, but have any of them felt as chaotic as that?

Richard Verschoor: No, this was a crazy one, very fun, though not at all times. I had some eventful moments. But, you know, I like racing like this. This is really why I started watching racing at all. So yeah, especially now that I'm sitting here now with a nice trophy - it was very nice.

FIA Formula 2: Well, that was a great move on Joshua as well, around the outside of Turn 12 on the last lap there to take second place. Just how did you set that one up?

Verschoor: Yeah, I think before that, I sent it a bit on Dino and then Pepe got past, and then he got past Joshua, and then it was a bit of a mess. I wanted to go for the move in T10, but he blocked me off. Then I went outside and switched back and then he out-braked himself a bit into T11, then had the nice switchback and kept my foot in around the outside of T12. So that was nice.

FIA Formula 2: Well, you'll be going from sixth tomorrow as well. Do you think we're going to get a similarly crazy race in the heat tomorrow?

Verschoor: I wouldn’t mind if it was a bit less crazy, to be honest. But for sure, we'll do our best. I think we’ll have a good race. Tyre management was well done today, and the team obviously gave me a strong car, so I'm excited for tomorrow.

FIA Formula 2: Well, we look forward to that, but congratulations on second place today. Joshua, coming on to you now, you led so much of that race and then said you were playing the long game with Dino as well with your tactics. What's the overriding emotion after finishing third?

Joshua Duerksen: Yeah for sure I wanted to win. But anyway, I knew that Bahrain is not our strong point. We were struggling in testing, trying to do big changes, and we knew it's going to be a challenging weekend. I think we maximised what we had. Of course, I wanted to win, but I'm still happy with P3 there was a lot of fighting going on. I'm not gonna lie on the last two or three laps. I was watching the TV to see how many laps were left, and I saw Lap 22 and then I looked on the next lap, and then it's at Lap 22, so I saw it wrong. So I was like, ‘Ah, one more lap. Come on.’ So yeah, I just wish the race was finishing a bit earlier, to be honest, two laps earlier. That would have been perfect for me. But no, they did a great job, for sure. They're really quick, and we still have to work to be on the same page as them, and hopefully we can do that tomorrow.

FIA Formula 2: There was a spell in that race, though, before that last Safety Car where yourself and Dino had a bit of a gap over the rest. Did you think at that point you had the race under control?

Duerksen: I hope so, I mean, when I overtook Dino, I was like, ‘Okay, now I have a chance again to fight for the win’. I defended quite well, I created the gap, but, yeah, I just didn't have the pure pace, and the guys were catching up way too quickly. So this was a bit of an issue for me. But I had hopes until the last two laps. I knew it was going to be difficult to keep the position because the other guys were just faster than me. But for sure, I was quite confident that I could get the win done.

FIA Formula 2: We saw all three of you smiling from the moment you got out the cars and in the cool down room and even sat here now. It was a great race to watch. Was it fun to be part of?

Duerksen: For sure, like, Richard said a bit stressful but still fun, It’s the same thing for me, I started racing because of this, because I love the side-by-side battle, and I think we had quite a lot in this race. Anyway, like I said I think I maximised what I could have done and that's why I'm happy with the result.

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