Round 6 Post Qualifying Press Conference

FIA Formula 2: Welcome everyone to today's FIA Formula 2 press conference following Qualifying here in Spielberg. Joining us in P3 from Campos Racing, it's Nikola Tsolov. In second place from Rodin, it's Alexander Dunne. And also from Campos, capturing his first pole position in F2, it's Noel León. Noel, congratulations. First pole position in F2. How does that feel?  

Noel León: It feels great! It was a very good day for the team. P1 and P3, since Free Practice, we knew that we had a chance for pole, the car was a rocket ship. So yeah, thanks to the team for the amazing job.  

FIA Formula 2: How much of this pole was team strategy and how much of it was you making sure you delivered on the lap? 

León: Yeah, it was a lot of pressure because I was alone. The strategy that my engineer chose was quite good but always risky because we didn't have a single car on track, so no tow. But we knew that we had the pace, so we trusted in ourselves and we did it right.  

FIA Formula 2: And then looking at how hot it is here, for tyre deg what was it like?  

León: The Supersoft was quite good, even for two laps. When I saw that on the first push they didn't improve my lap time, I was worried about the second push because on the first set I improved a bit. So yeah, it's always not nice to be watching the others' lap times.  

FIA Formula 2: Thanks Noel, P2, Alex, coming to you. You've been one of the standout qualifiers this season, qualifying in the top five at every round so far. How have you been able to be so consistent?  

Alexander Dunne: Well, I mean, there wouldn't be much point in it if I told you why, because then they would figure it out. So no, I mean, I think it's just trying to maximise every weekend. I think whether you're in a position where you have the pace for pole or you have the pace for fifth, you need to make sure you put it where the car is capable of  I think in general the pace has been pretty strong. So it's just about maximising it, to be honest, making sure if you make any changes for the final run of quali you have to make sure they're the right ones. I think a lot of it comes from FP in the beginning of the weekend as well, making sure you build into it properly and you find a good rhythm with yourself and with the car. So I think the team and I have been doing that really, really well. And we haven't quite got pole yet, but we've always been very, very close. And so I think that's kind of the important thing. The last two weekends I've been in the top three both times and the two other guys in the top three have both been from the same team. So I think that means that, myself, I'm maximising what I have. 

FIA Formula 2: There's a lot of talk coming in this weekend about traffic and trying to get a clean lap in with just how short the lap is around here at the Red Bull Ring, for yourself, did traffic at all play a factor?  

Dunne: It wasn't too bad. I felt like normally in previous years, getting a slipstream was quite important. But I did run one by myself and then I did my best lap behind Nico. Actually doing it by yourself was probably more beneficial. I think the balance of the car and the feeling I had in clean air, I felt a lot more comfortable than when I was following. So something obviously has changed this year because it's quite rare that clean air is quicker here. Noel did a very good job of maximising that with a different strategy to everyone else and in the end it paid off. So that's not something we necessarily thought about doing, but in the end it seemed to work. So whatever has changed this weekend, this year, it seemed like clean air was a lot more helpful than what it has been in the past. 

FIA Formula 2: For the Sprint tomorrow, starting P9, you're in the Championship hunt. What's possible from there?  

Dunne: We'll have to wait and see. I think so far our race pace has been strong, but we'll have to wait and see. I think there's a lot of people around us who are also very quick as well. So if we can just bring a good couple of points home and make sure we have no penalties or anything going into Sunday, then that's what I'd be happy with.  

FIA Formula 2: All right, congratulations. Coming to you, Nikola. This is a track that you've gone really well at in your career. It looked close for pole for you out there today. Just how close was it for yourself?  

Nikola Tsolov: Yeah, it was close. Obviously, also FP was really nice. We had good pace and we managed to hold on to the tyres for longer than the others, which was a good sign already for race pace. But then going into quali, the track improvement was massive, which I didn't expect, but it felt really good as well. I think the car was really nice, like Leon said, quite on rails. I would say on my side, I didn't quite maximise it as much as I could today. But in the end, it's still a P3, which obviously sets us up good for both races, which is important for the Championship. So I'm looking forward for more, obviously, but I think we're on the right path.  

FIA Formula 2: Did you want to take a different strategy to your teammate for qualifying today to get some clean air? Or were you confident in not going out of sync?  

Tsolov: Well, I think it is a bit of a risk doing what he did. I wasn't aware he was going to do it, but obviously it paid off and he really did a really good lap. So he put everything together, which was quite impressive. But on the other hand, I think there was no point for us to risk as much, because just looking at the Championship, you need consistent results. And obviously taking the pole today or being P3, it can be better, but it's still a really good place we can be at. 

FIA Formula 2: Yeah. Speaking of that championship hunt, I mean, how important is it for you tomorrow to get a good start and keep it clean up through Turn 1?  

Tsolov: Yeah, I think similar approach. As Alex said, just keep it clean. Don't pick up any penalties and just take a couple of points if possible. Understand how the tyres work, because I think it's going to be a tough race, probably tougher than on Sunday, because we're doing 2 p.m. It's going to be very warm. The tyre deg is going to be a big factor. So it will be interesting to see how it plays out. And yeah, it's all to play for. 

FIA Formula 2: All right thank you.