Round 9 Post-Sprint Race Press Conference

__FIA Formula 2: Welcome everyone to today's FIA Formula 2 Press Conference following the Sprint Race here at Hungary. Joining us P3 from TRIDENT, it's Laurens van Hoepen. In second place from DAMS Lucas Oil, it's Dino Baganovic and from MP Motorsport, capturing his second win of the season, it's Gabriele Minì. Gabriele, congratulations. What was the key to victory for yourself today? __

Gabriele Minì: Yeah, first of all, thank you. I think the key was the tyre management, probably. We had quite good pace straight away, but I didn't want to push too much too soon, let's say. So I started was saving for some laps. And then when I knew that, we had some advantage, we just tried an attack. At first it didn't work. Then after the second or third one worked. Then in clean air, of course, you have much more of an advantage. So it was all about managing well and getting clean air.

FIA Formula 2: On that final attack on Montoya, how long had you been planning that in your mind?

Minì: Well, I knew where I was quicker. I was much quicker in the last two corners, which was always a help. So it was all about trying to follow in the second sector, which is the hardest part. And then once I managed to do that and be, I think, within three, four tenths, it was all about getting that last corner exit, which I did and managed to get a clean overtake.

FIA Formula 2: You picked up some good points in the championship here today as well. Do you think you learned enough in the sprint to take into tomorrow's Feature Race?

Minì: Well, definitely. Let's say that we had a very good car today. So we clearly showed the pace. But yeah, of course, there is always something to learn and improve. You know, both my side and teams are wise. So we'll take everything we can to try and at least to replicate or get even better tomorrow.

FIA Formula 2: Congratulations on the victory, Dino, coming to you. Congrats on the P2, fourth podium of the season so far. How does that one feel?

Dino Beganovic: It feels good and not so good. I think it's great to be here on the podium today. I don't think the race was great from our side. We had a difficult start off the line and then we sort of had the pace, but we always struggle to make an attack and get a good exit out of last couple corners. So we have some stuff to look at tomorrow. We got a bit lucky today as Tsolov and Montoya collided, but we take that and we look forward for tomorrow.

FIA Formula 2: Track temp was pretty high here for this one. It was 50 degrees. How tough was it to manage the tyre?

Beganovic: I mean, it was OK, we are quite used to it in this category now that it's all about patience in the race, first part of the race, listening to engineers saying 20 laps to go. You still need to be patient and wait for those ten, eight laps to go to start pushing the tyres. So it was fine. I think tomorrow will be a bit easier as well. So I think we can have a good race tomorrow.

FIA Formula 2: Did you get a good sense as to what you would want to improve with the car?

Beganovic: Yeah, definitely. Like I said, we didn't have the best of days today, but the good thing is we have a tomorrow and we have quite some stuff to improve, but it's important that those are clear and that we are able to do that tomorrow.

__FIA Formula 2: Congratulations on the P2. Laurens, coming to you, third podium of the season. How does that one feel? __

Laurens van Hoepen: Yeah, it feels good. I mean, it's been a while since the second one. So to come back after a tough, tough weekend in Spa, so it feels very nice.

FIA Formula 2: Was there much left in the tyre for yourself in the closing stages of this one?

Van Hoepen: At the beginning, I thought so. I was saving so much in the beginning of the race and I really thought that I would be able to attack in the end of the race. But then as soon as you go a bit over the limit of the tyre, you lose a lot of grip. So it was really important to stay in the right window because otherwise it's really tricky.

FIA Formula 2 Well, thank you so much for that. Congratulations on the P3.