Round 9 Post Qualifying Press Conference

FIA Formula 3: Hello and welcome to the Press Conference of the top three qualifiers for the FIA Formula 3 Championship in Spa-Francorchamps. In third place we have Leonardo Fornaroli from Trident, in second, we have Alexander Dunne from MP Motorsport and taking Pole Position today is Callum Voisin from Rodin Motorsport. Callum, congratulations, Pole Position for the first time in FIA Formula 3 and at such an iconic venue, how do you feel?

Callum Voisin: It’s pretty amazing. First pole for me in this series and a first pole for the team in quite a long time as well. We’ve been working extremely hard to get these results. It’s nice to see that it’s finally paying off.

FIA Formula 3: It’s such a long lap with lots of different types of corners, what was the key to the pole lap today?

Voisin: Just nailing everything. I think we were fast from the get-go. I made a few mistakes in Sector 2 which is the one with all the corners. The last run was about making sure that in Sector 2 I nailed everything and didn’t make any mistakes as we were quick for the rest of the lap. I didn’t really bother with a tow because I just wanted to get the lap going. I wasn’t planning on pole or anything like that, I was just making sure I had a solid position because we were around P10 at that moment – or something like that. Overall, very happy. There was nothing special to be honest.

FIA Formula 3: You’re on a run of four straight top 6 finishes, including your podium in Silverstone, what clicked for you?

Voisin: Hard work. I mean, in general we have been working very hard with the engineers, we are working well together. It was a bit of a slow start, being a little bit underprepared, the team were quite new to everything and myself being in my rookie year I was quite new to everything. Working hard and not giving up was the main thing. I think that podium at Silverstone really gave me a big confidence boost. Knowing that I can do it and that I can win in front of the other 29 drivers. Just hard work and keeping on going to me that’s the main thing.

FIA Formula 3: Well done today. Alex your best Qualifying performance of the season and first front row start of the Feature Race, are you happy with P2?

Alex Dunne: Yeah, for sure, I don’t think you can be disappointed with a front row start. I think as nice as it is, it is maybe a little bit too late. I think it is probably something that we could have or should have got earlier in the season. A couple of things have gone wrong, and we have been a little bit unlucky. I think this was mainly to just maximise on what was possible, have no mistakes, make sure the car was in a good window and just put everything together. That’s what we did today.

FIA Formula 3: You were just over a tenth of a second off Callum Voisin on a track that is so long that’s a pretty small margin. Did you feel like that time was in there or were you really happy with the lap that you put together?

Dunne: It wasn’t a bad lap. I think of course once you look at the data, you think if I did this, this and this, then the pole was there but I think this car is one of the more difficult cars to complete a perfect lap. I think as far as a qualifying lap goes there is always going to be a couple of things that you could have done better, and I am sure that for Callum it would have been the same. As far as a qualifying lap goes, it was not too bad.

FIA Formula 3: After a productive spell in Austria and Spain the last two races were a bit more tricky for you. How pleased are you to be able to kick off this weekend so strongly?

Dunne: Of course it is nice. To finally be in a position to hopefully score some good points is a nice feeling. I think the race pace for the year has been stronger than our Qualifying pace. I think if we can do what we have done through the year then a good result is possible. I think it would have been nice if we could have done this a little bit earlier in the season. I think this is one of the first times where everything was a bit more calm. There was nothing that really went wrong in Qualifying and that showed in the results.

FIA Formula 3: Leo, back-to-back P3 in Qualifying for you, how was your session?

Leonardo Fornaroli: It was okay. It was a very tricky session because all of the gaps were super close. It was imperative to have a tow because of all the straights, otherwise you were going to lose a lot. I missed a bit in the first part of the session. In fact, I was not super quick. Then I knew that it was super important for to do a good first lap on the second set of tyres. Then I was able to put myself in a good position. Also, I did a clean lap, I was super scared to make a mistake so maybe the lap was not perfect but anyway I am still very happy. It is a good result and a good starting position for both races

FIA Formula 3: The gap to yourself from P2 was nine thousandths of a second, is that a little bit frustrating?

Fornaroli: Yes of course, you want to be as far as possible up the order. But for me it is still okay, it is not a big issue.

FIA Formula 3: We are in the business end of the Championship now, you’ll start ahead of all your main rivals in the Feature Race, does it feel like a big opportunity for you this weekend?

Fornaroli: Yes of course, but anything can happen here in Spa. I will just focus on myself and doing my job.

FIA Formula 3: Thanks to all, well done today.