Round 2 Post-Sprint Race Press Conference

FIA Formula 3: Welcome to the Press Conference with the top three of the FIA Formula 3 Sprint Race in Melbourne. In third place we have Laurens van Hoepen from ART Grand Prix, second is Arvid Lindblad for PREMA Racing and taking his maiden win in Formula 3, Martinius Stenshorne of Hitech Pulse-Eight. Martinius congratulations, race three of your rookie season and already a race winner, how does that feel?

Martinius Stenshorne: Of course, if feels really nice, Bahrain was not a great round for us, we struggled during Qualifying. Starting from the back we managed to make some overtakes but having a better Qualifying here helped a lot.

FIA Formula 3: Today starting at the front and getting into the lead early on, you had Arvid closing you down in the mid-part of the race, what was your feeling ahead of the Safety Car. Did you think you were under threat?

Stenshorne: He was coming really fast and I was struggling with my tyres so the Safety Car helped me a lot to bring my tyres back in. After the Safety Car the pace was quite strong so happy with that.

FIA Formula 3: How did you manage that Safety Car restart. There is a lot of pressure on it leading the race with not long to go. Did you have a plan in place for that?

Stenshorne: Honestly, I had no plan, I just went at that point. I decided to just go. I got a bit of wheelspin when I pulled off the start, so I was a but sideways, but I managed a good gap. The Safety Car restart was not bad.

FIA Formula 3: What was the feeling like as you can round the final corner when you know you got the job done and you saw the chequered flag?

Stenshorne: Yeah, it was really nice after having such a difficult round in Bahrain. I was expecting Arvid to come and try and overtake me so I am happy to have crossed the line P1.

FIA Formula 3: Congratulations well done today. Arvid moving to you, you won the Sprint Race in Bahrain and it looked on the cards at some points today. How satisfied are you with second place?

Arvid Lindblad: I think it was a good result, it’s a long Championship. Qualifying was slightly better than Bahrain which then meant I started further back today. It made the race more difficult. I wasn’t going into it with the expectation or hope to win, I knew that would be farfetched. The podium was a realistic target, so I am happy to be here in P2. The pace was really strong throughout the race, I got a good start and was able to manage the tyres well. We all had a lot of degradation, more than we expected but I think in general the pace is good. It’s good points and I am happy to be on the podium again.

FIA Formula 3: Let’s talk about that Safety Car intervention, how much did that hurt your chances. Did you think you had the win when you were closing in or did that make it better for you?

Lindblad: I think we had strong pace once I passed Laurens, I was coming at Martinius quite fast. I felt good with the car. It was a bit disappointing because I had just got into DRS range, I was really on the attack as I could see he was struggling with the tyres, so I knew it was the time to go. The Safety Car really reset everything with a lot of thermal deg. The Safety Car did help cool them down a lot though which kind of helped us all, so it made it more level at the end, and I wasn’t able to have the opportunity after the restart.

FIA Formula 3: It was similar to Bahrain in the sense it felt that you were coming on stronger the longer the race went on before the SC intervention. Is that feeling like a bit of a strength of yours at this early strange in the season?

Lindblad: I’m not sure at this point to be honest. I just pushed at the beginning, and I got a good start. I was challenging for third and then messed up the first corner and went down to fifth. I was pushing quite a lot in the early laps, and I could already feel a bit of deg there. I tried to calm down and manage it. From the midpoint onwards I started to have good pace and improve while those around me dropped more. The pace was just good mid-race.

FIA Formula 3: Thank you and well done. Laurens coming to you, another podium for you to go with second in the Bahrain Sprint. Where did you feel like you were missing out compared to the top two today having started on pole?

Laurens van Hoepen: I would say in the beginning of the race when I saw that Stenshorne was already so close to me behind, I knew I was in for a tough race. I was really struggling to stay in front and after he overtook me, I was struggling to stay behind as well. From that point on I knew it was going to be tough. Really from the point that Arvid started catching me it was really hard. I wasn’t sure how it was going to play out, but I knew it was going to be tough towards the end. At one point from mid-to-end of the race I started to get a better feeling again. I thought that ‘oh it’s not done yet, I can fight back.’ This was a decent end.

FIA Formula 3: Talk us through the mindset with that late restart, knowing you had the final podium place to hold on to with threats from behind but also a chance to make some moves yourself.

Van Hoepen: I wasn’t too pleased with the Safety Car because I think that was the last two laps that I did before the Safety Car, I was getting back into the correct pace and catching the two cars in front. I actually thought that I had a good chance if the Safety Car wasn’t there. When it came, I knew it was a good opportunity to reset the tyres and cool everything down to have those last laps to push to the end. I just knew that I had to hold position and look forward as much as possible to maybe do something in the last few laps.

FIA Formula 3: It’s still very early in the season, how happy are you that you have converted some pole positions into podiums and some solid points in the Sprint Race?

Van Hoepen: Well I didn’t really want to lose positions in the race so I am not too happy about that. It is a working point for me to make sure we can hold onto pole positions. I wasn’t too happy with the Qualifying yesterday so that is why I started from pole today rather than pole tomorrow. Maybe that’s a bit farfetched but I think later in the season we can do a better job in Qualifying to be in the best position for the race on Sunday,

FIA Formula 3: Thank you very much. Martinus returning to you, how much confidence does this results give you heading into tomorrow's race trying to pick up some more points and kickstart your season?

Stenshorne: Yes it helps a lot, after Bahrain it was of course not that great. We were struggling quite a bit so to get a result like this it helps a lot. I hope we can carry this momentum throughout the season and keep working hard.

FIA Formula 3: Great stuff, thanks all.