Round 7 Post-Race Feature Race Press Conference

FIA Formula 2: Hello again from Austria where it’s time for the Press Conference for the top three finishers in today’s FIA Formula 2 Feature Race. In third place we have Isack Hadjar for Campos Racing, in second we have Franco Colapinto for MP Motorsport and your race winner, Gabriel Bortoleto for Invicta Racing. Gabriel, congratulations, your first victory in Formula 2. That must be a really special feeling.

Gabriel Bortoleto: Yeah, it is. Finally, we were able to get this win. After Imola where we managed to get Pole and then Isack Hadjar managed to do a good race and keep up the pace and finish P2 in the end, that was a hard one to take for me in Imola. But finally, we had the pace here as well. We were fast in Qualifying but even faster in the race, so thanks to the team and everyone for making this happen.

FIA Formula 2: You had plenty to deal with today, traffic at the start and then later on in the race as well in the second stint. What were the biggest challenges for you today to handle in order to get this victory?

Bortoleto: I would say when Pepe pitted under the Virtual Safety Car. I needed to push much, much more in the beginning than what I wanted to do on the Softs. I came out of the pits, and he was almost in T3, so it was a big, big loss. I needed to push to catch him because I didn’t know what his pace was, I didn’t know if I could slow down or not. I think I used a little bit more of my tyres than what I would have liked to at that point in the race, but it was fine because at the end we had the pace, so I’m happy with how we handled everything.

FIA Formula 2: Well, you’ve had Pole Positions, you’ve had podiums, but what does this win do for your confidence moving forward?

Bortoleto: I always knew that we had the pace and the possibility to win, it just didn’t happen before. It was just a matter of time. It wasn’t that the car was slow, or I was doing mistakes. When I was starting on Pole, I wasn’t doing a good start myself, so things were like this. But now my confidence is just – it’s like 1000 kilos off of my shoulders to get my first win in Formula 2. From now on, we know that our car will be there every round, so we’ll be fighting for wins much more often going forward.

FIA Formula 2: Congratulations, well done today. Franco, P2 for you today and you led for so long on that strategy, just how pleased are you with that drive?

Franco Colapinto: I am happy. I think we chose a risky strategy, and it paid off. Dennis was starting on Options and I just chose the opposite strategy to him otherwise I was going to be boxing on the same lap or we would be blocked as we were starting close together on the grid. I tried to maximise what we had. I had to start on the harder tyres, that was the Softs, and put the Supersoft on at the end, but in the end it worked well. I used a bit too much of the Soft at the beginning of the race. I think that hurt me a bit in the second part of the stint on the Soft tyre, but I’m still happy. We made a good step after yesterday and I had confidence, but we weren’t super quick in the Sprint Race. We found stuff yesterday night and we worked on those little details, and I had really good pace. On Primes I was fast. I think I struggled a little bit on the tyres in the first five laps pushing too hard. On Options, I tried to maximise things. It was a bit tricky because I came out quite far behind Gabriel, but I knew P2 was possible so I just tried to keep the tyres alive and tried to go for P2 that I thought was the maximum we could achieve. It was very tough because pushing every lap on the Option and Supersofts, the tyres were feeling like an overheated Wet tyre in the dry. It was tricky to drive but I still had the grip in the last lap to get second place and points and fastest lap as well. I think we closed the weekend in the right way and the team deserved this, so I’m happy with them, so good job.

FIA Formula 2: Those closing laps might have been tricky behind the wheel. Just how crucial was it to be clinical in that spell in the race?

Colapinto: It was important. I think I couldn’t stay behind them for many corners because I was overheating the tyres really, really fast, and it was getting super difficult in the high speed. But it felt like on braking I was stronger and traction as well, so I was using that more than the high speed. In the high speed I was suffering so much with the tyres that I was not able to push behind them. But I’m happy. I’m happy with the points and the result and after yesterday, it’s a good bounce back I think.

FIA Formula 2: Well, back-to-back second places for you in Feature Races and the fastest lap too. Do you feel like you’re building up a bit of momentum?

Colapinto: Sure I am. The last few rounds have been good. Of course, Monaco Feature Race, I take it out of the book because we made a little bit of a mistake on the strategy, and it just didn’t work our way. But I think that on the other hand, since Imola we’ve done a massive step forward and keeping up this momentum. We have been doing Qualifying’s very consistently and going in the right direction with the car. I’m still feeling fresh and looking forward to the next few rounds.

FIA Formula 2: Great stuff today. Isack, thanks very much for waiting. Third place for you today, how satisfying is it to pick up some strong points after yesterday’s result?

Isack Hadjar: It feels great. Yesterday was – the whole weekend was a disaster with the pace we had. From FP to Qualifying, we were just quickest, it felt easy. I really think I had Pole in the bag but then it happened. Then yesterday we had limited power again for another reason, so confidence was low but I really, really went for it today so to grab a P3 from seventh was a really good result.

FIA Formula 2: There were also a lot of radio messages we were hearing going back between yourself and your teammate in the second half of that race. Just talk us through it from your perspective.

Hadjar: I just followed the instructions from the team and that was it. He let me by, and I wasn’t told to let him by again so for me, there was absolutely no issue there and that’s it.

FIA Formula 2: You’ve talked about closing the gap a bit, it’s nine points to Aron ahead, Gabriel now in third place and the 12th different winner this season. Do you think it’s going to be wide open for the rest of the year?

Hadjar: I think so but honestly if I manage to finish all my races without other things that were out of my control, I think I would be quite a bit ahead, I’m quite confident about that. My pace since the beginning of the season – we’ve always been quick, but we’ve had so many technical issues, being taken out as well, so in the end, I feel that being second with all that’s happened to me is pretty decent. So, I’m really looking forward to fewer DNFs and more points finishes.

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