Round 3 Post Feature Race Press Conference

FIA Formula 2: Hello and welcome to the Press Conference of the top three finishers here in Melbourne for the Round 3 Feature Race of the FIA Formula 2 Championship. In third place we have Zane Maloney from Rodin Motorsport, in second is Paul Aron from Hitech Pulse-Eight and your race winner is Isack Hadjar from Campos Racing. Isack you sat in that very seat yesterday before a penalty took it away, what a response from you today. Does it feel like a bit of redemption this win?

Isack Hadjar: Yeah it does feel like redemption but to be fair in my mind I won yesterday on track and that’s the most important to me. The penalty came and it’s just less points in the Championship, but in my mind, I won twice this weekend and that’s what matters most to me.

FIA Formula 2: In today’s race, the Safety Car, the Virtual Safety Car, played a bit of a role, but you had to take advantage of the opportunities. Just how crucial was the progress you made in the early stages on the restart?

Hadjar: After the first few laps I was P8, it was clear what lap I was going to pit in. Pepe (Josep María Martí) had the priority. He was going to pit before me. The lap I pitted I knew that I had to do a good in-lap and then I would have a free pitlane. I saw the VSC and from that point on I knew it was pretty much in the bag. I got super lucky with that I have to admit. When you look at my last year and a half it has been a disaster for me. So it feels good.

FIA Formula 2: You cross the line first in both races in terms of driving and showed really strong pace throughout the weekend. Just how happy are you with the way you performed this weekend?

Hadjar: Really happy, I think I performed really well. Just like Jeddah and Bahrain but we just didn’t get the results due to a technical issue and being taken out, so it was a tough start to the Championship, but the speed has always been there. It was the case this weekend that we got some luck. It made a big difference.

FIA Formula 2: Congratulations and well done today. Paul, second place, you made your way through the field very impressively. How happy are you with that drive?

Paul Aron: Very happy. Happy to continue this momentum of podiums in every round. I think yesterday was frustrating for me as well. We had good pace yesterday and we were on for a podium but I got caught up in other people's mess and we lost big points. Happy to have a good race today. I am more happy about the fact that both me and the team are still making steps forward. We are getting closer and closer to the top. At the beginning of the Championship, it is easy to get too comfortable too quickly. Coming from Jeddah I am happy with the steps we made forward and it showed in the race this week. We were really fast, props to Isack for doing a good race and winning it. If it wasn’t for that lucky stop, we could have had a chance for the win as well. I am happy with the race in the end.

FIA Formula 2: You had a lot of fighting out there, I want to ask about a moment with Kimi fighting into Turn 11. You both passed Taylor into that corner, was that intentional? How did it feel inside the car?

Aron: Obviously everything happens very quickly inside the car. I knew that the move had to be done quickly because I saw that Zane behind had gotten past and was making a move. If I wanted to have a shot at the win, I knew I had to get past quickly. Actually at the beginning of the lap I said, ‘we have a lot of pace,’ and I just stuck behind. My engineer said, ‘trust yourself and go for it.’ So that’s what I did and it worked out well. One for the highlights for sure.

FIA Formula 2: It looked great, you mentioned a podium in each weekend. How pleased are you to show this sort of consistency at the start of the season?

Aron: I am pleased to see it but more pleased to do it. It hasn’t come out of nowhere, I have worked my whole life to improve step-by-step. I think already in F3 you could see that I was very consistent. There weren’t big week spots in my toolbox. I am beginning to be a complete driver. Especially in a championship like Formula 2, driving with your head and taking risks in a smart way works out. It is showing now because we are second in the championship. Podium every weekend and two of them are Feature Race podiums so I am happy about that. Hopefully we can keep it going into the next few rounds.

FIA Formula 2: Well done this weekend. Zane your first podium since your sweep in Bahrain. Glad to be back?

Zane Maloney: For sure, yesterday should have been a podium. From my side I made a big mistake which lost me lots of places. Happy to be back on, bit of a chaotic race. For sure the pace has been good all year so far. I think we have proved that each round. It is cool to have a clean Feature Race.

FIA Formula 2: Paul got ahead of you in that VSC/SC period that was happening before one of the interruptions. Was that critical to your results today or were you lacking some pace compared to the top two?

Maloney: I have to go through it with the team because I did go off by myself which was my mistake. It put me back into Paul but I thought that he was on the Primes so I wasn’t pushing that hard, I was going to let him go. I didn’t push too hard in T6 and then going down the back straight he past me and I saw the purple tyres. I thought, ‘oh come on, we just lost the place’. So, my bad of course I probably should have asked the team what he was on. My bad with that, my bad going off. But the second half of the race was really good from my side, so I am pleased with that.

FIA Formula 2: There is a bit of a break now until Imola, you head into that as the Championship leader, how satisfied are you with the way you have started the season?

Maloney: Satisfied but of course we just need to keep making steps forward. I think we have showed the last three rounds that Bahrain wasn’t a fluke. We have had the pace each round. Some problems in Qualifying in Jeddah, my going off yesterday and today so it’s not the best start to the year but it is very good for sure. We just need to keep working on it. I think Qualifying from my side is much better than last year. I just need to keep improving that. We have always been fast in the race and made good moves so we just need to keep going. Everyone is catching up so we need to keep performing well.

FIA Formula 2: Thank you very much.