Round 1 Post-Feature Race Press Conference

FIA Formula 3: Good morning from Melbourne, where we're joined by our top three from today's very wet FIA Formula 3 Feature Race. In third place, we have Théophile Nael for Van Amersfoort Racing. Second is Noah Stromsted for TRIDENT, and your race winner is Rafael Camâra also for TRIDENT. Rafa congratulations, pole position and the Feature Race victory here in Melbourne. How pleased are you to start the season in this way?

Rafael Camâra: Yeah, very happy about the result of today, especially after the race yesterday, where we had the crash. So it's very good to come back and be strong today. Tough conditions, where it was the first time on wets this weekend. I think the team did an amazing job to keep it all clean. Once we started the race, I just managed to keep on track, because I knew it was going to be tough. And then after that, was just managing the tyres, so very happy with the result, and looking forward to Bahrain.

FIA Formula 3: From the outside, you looked very comfortable out in the lead but just talk us through how tricky the conditions were out there. Because obviously you're the first car that comes across every corner in each lap.

Camâra: Yeah, first time on a wet street circuit, so something different for me. It was just basically one line where there was the grip, and if you were missing, you were just sliding. So this was very tricky, because if you try to push a little bit more, and then you go out of the line, you just completely lose the grip, and you can almost spin or do something bad. So I was careful with that, doing the job that I needed to do.

FIA Formula 3: Obviously it’s just the first race of the season, but you're naturally the early Championship leader. Is the title the target for you as a rookie this season, and if so, how much confidence do you take from being quick in the dry on Friday and then quick in the wet today?

Camâra: I think always when you start a competition you want to win. So of course, I will try to do that. But we all know, it's not easy, it’s a high championship level, so I want to just focus on myself, take each race as a new, let's say start from the zero, even if we had a good result in the race before. So I will try to keep it clean and see where we end up in the end of the championship.

FIA Formula 3: Well, congratulations, well done this weekend. Noah, moving on to you now, a strong second place for you. How do you feel after that race?

Noah Stromsted: Yeah, quite good. Tough race, especially the restarts with the spray, was very difficult to follow, so you always kind of open the gap and then you stay there. But yeah, a good race, especially for the team, a hard day for them yesterday.

FIA Formula 3: You mentioned there actually the spray and the impact it could have. When we had that late Safety Car, were you feeling confident enough that you might be able to fight for the win if we had a restart again with a few laps to go?

Stromsted: I mean, I would try my best. But for sure, it's difficult, especially also on this track, where it's quite narrow, so it's hard to go out of the spray, and it was a bit of standing water some places. So yeah, was difficult.

FIA Formula 3: Just how tricky was it to get into a rhythm in those conditions, because they're changing all the time, and like you say, you don't have clear visibility all?

Noah Stromstead: Yeah. I mean, in the start, it was quite wet, so I was taking it easy, just finding the grip. And then just before the Safety Car it was starting to dry up, so there was coming more and more grip. But yeah, the lines in this track it's a street track. It's the same as the dry so this was something new for me

FIA Formula 3: Congratulations on second place. Théo, thanks for waiting the same top three from qualifying. How pleased are you to get a podium in a race where it must have been easy to make mistakes?

Théophile Nael: Well pretty happy. Plenty of points this weekend so far. So I was not expecting a first weekend like that, especially with the testing in Barcelona. We were not really happy, but we worked really hard before coming here. So, yeah, pretty happy. The conditions were really tricky. I was trying to find the grip, find the line. Yeah, it was a tough race.

FIA Formula 3: Noah was mentioning the visibility from his point of view in second. What was it like for you with two cars ahead?

Nael: It was even worse. Yeah, it was really tricky, especially at the beginning of the race, and then when the rain started again at the end, I was hoping it was a Red Flag, because it was really tricky conditions with aquaplaning as well.

FIA Formula 3: Well, three rookies in the top three for Qualifying and the opening Feature Race. You think it could be a competitive season against the more experienced drivers, given we've got a new car?

Nael: I think now we have Bahrain testing, so we should try many things again on the car. I think there are drivers, like experienced driver, who came back. So we should keep going like this, and let's see.

FIA Formula 3: Great stuff, thank you everyone.