Round 2 Post Feature Race Press Conference

FIA Formula 2: Welcome everyone to the FIA Formula 2 press conference following today's thrilling Feature Race here in Miami. Joining us, P3 from Invicta Racing, it's Rafael Câmara. In second, racing with Dams Lucas Oil is Dino Boganovic, and capturing his first win in Formula 2, racing for MP Motorsport, it's Gabriele Minì. Congratulations, Gabriele. Your first win in Formula 2, how does that feel?

Gabriele Minì: Yeah, it feels amazing. It was a very chaotic race. It was, I think, in two parts. So the first part, I tried to stay on track, not to do any mistakes and see how the pace was. And then the second part, we just tried to gain position and be as quick as possible. Overheating was a big element of the race. So when I saw Dino and Rafa fighting, I started trying to catch up. And in the end, with a very nice battle, I managed to bring the win.

FIA Formula 2: Just take us through those closing stages, trying to navigate the battle between Rafa and Dino. From your own perspective, how did that all look?

Minì: To be honest, I think there were more times when I thought that we were really close to a crash, but we didn't because it was really hard fighting, but we kept it clean. You know, Rafa went down the inside in T1 and they both went wide. So I managed to overtake him. And then we had a very close fight on the slow speed section with Dino. And in the end, I managed to go back in first place before the last lap. So it was very nice, but at the same time, very, very tough.

FIA Formula 2: With your win today, you move up to second provisionally in the standings. How does that feel?

Minì: I mean, it feels good, but I'm not really looking at the championship at the moment. There are 12 rounds to go, so 24 races. There is time to gain and time to lose. So just doing it race by race, lap after lap.

FIA Formula 2: Dino, let's come to yourself. Congratulations. You went from P11 to P2. It's your first podium of the season. How does that one feel?

Dino Beganovic: No, it feels very good to stand here on the podium in Miami. It feels a bit like revenge after the Melbourne Feature Race. We started the year great with pole and we had an issue in the Feature Race. So I feel like we deserve this one. A great race. And I really want to thank them and I’m happy to bring this first podium for them.

FIA Formula 2: You missed the chicane towards the end of the race there. You had Gabriele behind you and heading into turn 17, you ran wide, was it a mistake or were you giving the position up to Gabriele?

Beganovic: No, I was first trying to give back the position before the straights. He was not very keen to take that position. I tried again in the last corner, running a bit wide to give him that place because I thought it's better to be on the safe side than risking that penalty cutting the chicane. So after that I thought I could fight him in the end in the last lap, but there was not much left in the tyres and it was more about managing the position and finishing the race in P2.

FIA Formula 2: It’s a first time racing in Miami. Just thoughts on racing here in the rain.

Beganovic: It was very cool actually. It was better than I expected because the track has quite a lot of grip, more than expected again. And also in the wet, it's cool in sector two where you got the tight section. It's very technical. So it's very cool to race here in the wet. A little bit too much overheating maybe and it could have been maybe a bit more exciting for us drivers, just focussing on the driving instead of management, but a very cool race in general.

FIA Formula 2: Rafael, let's come to you. Congratulations on a hard-fought third place. Can you take us through the closing stages of this one from your perspective and your battle with Dino?

Rafael Câmara: Yeah, I think it was a tough race. Definitely not easy. Already at the start, we didn't manage to get a very good start. And then through the race I was just trying to be there before the pit stops. There were quite a lot of safety cars, so I was just trying to keep the position. I think the second stint we started quite okay. I knew there was this overheating thing, but I think also on the first stint I was trying to just understand how were the tyres and how they were behaving for the second one to manage in a better way. I just think it pushed a bit too much there on the second stint, especially the last safety car. And then I just went in the overheat with especially the rear. I couldn't recover really. After that I was just trying to keep the position and I'll be there at the podium. That, I think, was the maximum we could have done today. The fight was very intense. I didn't want really to crash. But it was not very easy as well to be on track with such a low grip at the end. But yeah, there were some good fights. Luckily no crash and a good podium at the end.

FIA Formula 2: You'd mentioned the tyres and trying to keep them cool. Were you having to do a lot of searching for puddles and damp sections to try and keep them as cool as possible?

Câmara: Yeah, every time I could I was just trying to be a bit offline to get a bit of water and cool them down a bit. I think just on the driving, even doing that, I just maybe pushed a bit too much and then there was not enough.

FIA Formula 2: And just your thoughts on Formula 2 coming here and racing in Miami for the first time?

Câmara: I mean, I think it is an especially good place. I think, as well the races were very fun, both in the dry and in the wet. I think it has some long straights and there is quite a lot of time that you can actually take the slipstream or also with the DRS, you can easily try and overtake. Also I think slipstream is a big thing. Even in quali, everyone was looking for that. So you can drive quite close because there’s many high speeds. And even the slow section, if you have, in the moment you have better grip, it's quite easy to follow. So I think this is what makes very fun on the races. I don't know how it will be next year, but it was very fun this year.

FIA Formula 2: Thanks Rafa, congratulations all.