Round 3 Post-Sprint Race Press Conference

FIA Formula 2: Hello and welcome to the Press Conference for the FIA Formula 2 Sprint Race here in Melbourne. We are here with the top three finishers, in third we have Dennis Hauger for MP Motorsport, second is Roman Stanek for Trident and your race winner is Isack Hadjar from Campos Racing. A dominant win in the end that could have all come undone at the start, talk is through the beginning of that race.

Isack Hadjar: It was very stressful; I had a good launch and then I tried to go for the move on Roman. I couldn’t see what was going on at my right-hand side so I had a contact. That was it really.

FIA Formula 2: It was close but once you got in the lead you never looked back. How comfortable did you feel in the car out there?

Hadjar: Really comfortable, since yesterday the car felt really good, we are really competitive. In free air I could manage the pace. I just felt really comfortable, lap after lap the balance was really similar, so I was able to build my confidence. So, we took the win.

FIA Formula 2: It was a frustrating weekend for you in Jeddah last time out. How pleased have you been to have bounced back here in this style?

Hadjar: It has been a frustrating year and a half I would say, it’s not just Jeddah it has been really tricky for me. Unlucky moments, missed a lot of podiums. To be back on the top step feels really good.

FIA Formula 2: Congratulations, well done today. Roman moving on to you, second place for you today, your first podium in Formula 2. It looked like you had to drive the entire race in your mirrors.

Roman Stanek: Yes, as you said I struggled to be on the pace like the other cars. So I was defending a lot. I think I showed off my defending skills. I can probably write down the whole front wing of Kush Maini because he was behind me for the whole race. We had a poor start but then I managed to keep my nose clean and defend. We have to work a lot for tomorrow because tomorrow is the race where I start P10. It is the race where there is the pitstop. Definitely we need to work because we were lacking a lot of pace today. P2 is satisfying but when you start first it is obviously not what you want. We just need to keep working hard and I am sure sooner or later we will get there to where we belong.

FIA Formula 2: How much did you have to adapt your driving today at different parts of the track to keep Kush and then Dennis behind?

Stanek: I was really trying to focus on the exits because I know that the DRS is quite powerful. You need to have a good exit without mistakes, otherwise the guy who has the DRS is going to pass you. So I focused there and it seemed like it worked but we have to work hard in order to, I won’t say bounce back because P2 is satisfying, but the pace compared to Isack and Dennis, who came in the last lap like a rocket. We have to work a lot.

FIA Formula 2: It has been a fairly tricky start for both you and the team for this season, is there a bit of relief with this result to get some silverware?

Stanek: Definitely, we could see in Jeddah, that my teammate was disqualified when we had the car to perform. The first round was quite messy because to be honest, I was lost, and we were lost as a team. We tried everything on the car, and nothing was working. We bounced back in Jeddah. I did a good lap there, but my mistake cost me a top five position. It is satisfying but as I said we have to keep working because these guys, they never sleep so we also cannot sleep.

FIA Formula 2: Well done today and good luck tomorrow. Dennis moving on to you, three straight podiums for you this season, how hard did you have to fight for that one from P10 on the grid?

Dennis Hauger: To be honest, it was not the hardest race, but I say that because everyone around came together at some point. It was really messy; I think the field was really tight. We all bunched up several times and it was a huge fight. I just tried to keep my nose clean, working on just staying in the race and doing some damage limitation. In the end it paid off. Overall, I think the pace was really strong. It was just really hard to get by once the guy in front is in the DRS train as well it is hard to make that step. I really pushed Maini to make a mistake and get him out of the DRS of Roman. I finally made it happen and after that once I got the free air I was flying. I think we have made some good steps and have some good things to take for tomorrow. Overall happy with the P3, good points and good results.

FIA Formula 2: You mentioned staying out of trouble, how tough is that to do by not getting too close to the cars in front but also not having threats from the cars behind as well?

Hauger: I feel we have been pretty good at that this year, in terms of being a bit patient. I think everyone at the beginning of the race was really pushing, trying to get by, and it all got really messy. I think we were smart in that sense that we were maybe holding back a bit. In the end we had really good pace as well so it just shows that we are able to perform well, do our race, and keep it clean.

FIA Formula 2:You reference that you will be starting from pole position tomorrow, a great chance to take the Championship lead after the points you have added today. Does that come into your mind at all when you have an opportunity from the front row?

Hauger: Obviously I am always thinking, the better result I get, the more points I get. We are all fighting for a Championship. It is early, there are a lot of rounds to go. It is not in my mind exactly but you know the better result, the more points so you are aiming to improve every race and get the most out of it. We did that today and hopefully we can do that tomorrow.

FIA Formula 2: Thank you, well done today.