Round 7 Post Feature Race Press Conference

FIA Formula 2: Welcome everyone to today's FIA Formula 2 press conference following today's feature race here at Silverstone. Joining us P3 from VAR, it's Rafael Villagomez. In second place from ART, it's Kush Maini, and from Campos, capturing his sixth career F2 win, it's Nikola Tsolov. Nikola, congratulations. The first driver to take three race wins in a row, doing the double here at Silverstone. How does that feel?

Nikola Tsolov: I just, yeah, I'm over the moon. I have no words to describe what I'm feeling right now and what happened in these past two days. We came into the weekend thinking it would be a weak one for us and we came away with two wins. So it is quite a turnaround from what we expected. I'm just looking forward to keeping the momentum going into the next couple of rounds. And now we’ve got a nice gap as well in the championship.

FIA Formula 2: Talk about that battle between yourself and Kush going through Maggots there. Did you think the car was going to stick because the pass looked pretty spectacular?

Tsolov: I've been confident in the high speed during the whole weekend. So going into there, I wasn't sure if the move was going to stick, but I did my best to hold it and I got a little snap on the outside. Then thankfully I managed to stop it enough to get a good exit of Maggots and Becketts as well so he wouldn't get the chance to pass me back. So yeah, it was a nice battle and fair as well. So thanks to Kush for being nice as well.

FIA Formula 2: I asked you this last weekend, but about the championship, is it something that you're going to be thinking about now each time you come to a race?

Tsolov: Not necessarily, but obviously looking at it after the race, now it's looking good and it's been looking good the whole year. So we're more thinking round by round and what approach we need to take depending on the position we're in, but we're not necessarily, “okay we have to do this, because we're at this, in the championship,” et cetera, et cetera.

FIA Formula 2: Congratulations, Rafael, coming to you. That was a very strong strategy. Was it something you had planned before the start of the race?

Rafael Villagomez: Yeah, actually since yesterday, because we saw that yesterday Cian Shields did a strong stint on the softs. So yeah, we planned that. It worked out in the end.

FIA Formula 2: It seems like clean air at this track was key. But did you think a podium was possible with that strategy?

Rafael Villagomez: This morning, not really. We're more aiming for a good result in the points, because like I said yesterday, we're aiming for a little bit more consistency, but the team did an amazing job with the car and it was flying. So once I was by myself, it was all about doing the job the best I can. And yeah, I mean, a podium, I'll take it, of course.

FIA Formula 2: How much management did you have to do in that first stint of yours? Because they left you out for quite a while.

Villagomez: Yeah, there was quite a lot. Obviously, there is stuff we prepared prior to the weekend, managing tyres and where to save, where to push. Of course, because the pace was good, we kept on extending. At the end, with the softs, we could have pitted a little bit early, because the gap was not close enough to Nikolas.

FIA Formula 2: Thank you very much. Congratulations again, Kush, coming to you. Can you take me through your start? Was it that Rafael Camara just had a poor getaway, or did you just have a better start altogether?

Kush Maini: No, I think the top two, the front row, I mean, they had a slightly slower getaway. I think me and Nico actually had good getaways and yeah, I managed to find my way through the middle of them and had clear air, which was important for us. And so, yeah, that went perfectly to plan, really.

FIA Formula 2: Can you just take me through not only that, but your battle with Nikola from your perspective?

Kush Maini: Yeah, I think yesterday we had great pace and today the condition is slightly different. So we tweaked the car a bit and we still had really strong pace during the first half of the stint. I just started to lose the rears. I had no traction in the end and Nikola just had much more grip and I didn't want to risk it, really. I knew that if I kept him behind for maybe three or four laps, maybe his tyres would overheat. He passed me into Maggets and Beckets so that move was inevitable, even though I tried hanging on. And then it was about just trying to let the tyres breathe, especially the rears, and bring it home, really.

FIA Formula 2: Does that have to do with how you set the car up throughout the weekend, controlling the rears?

Maini: Yeah. I mean, obviously, when it's hotter, you expect a bit more rear deg and when it's colder, you expect front deg. And from yesterday, I think, yeah, we probably went a bit too much and the rear was just a bit loose after the first half of the stint and on both tyres. And then, yeah, I was just suffering a bit with overheating.

FIA Formula 2: Thank you for that, Kush