Round 4 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 here in Monaco. In third place we have Luke Browning from Hitech Pulse-Eight, in second we have Christian Mansell from ART Grand Prix, and our Pole sitter is Gabriele Minì from PREMA Racing. Gabriele what a lap, how is it from the car?

Gabriele Minì: Yeah, thank you. It was quite a good lap. Of course, I knew we were not there yet. So, for the last push, I knew I had to have some big improvements compared to the previous lap. Then you just try to take more risk. As we say in Monaco it’s either, pole or the wall. Except for a Red Flag or getting a lap deleted. But still, you just try to take a bit more risk. It gets closer everywhere, we managed to put it together.

FIA Formula 3: Knowing that you were on Pole Position last year in Monaco, did that give you an extra boost or was it a matter of a little bit of more pressure to do it again this year?

Minì: Honestly, it doesn't really change. I mean what you do the previous year doesn’t matter. It's another championship. It's another season. I'm with a different team, so everything is different. You must start again from zero. We didn’t really have time to test anything in Free Practice. We knew it was not going be easy. But of course, every time we go on track the goal is to try to be the quickest. That was still the goal.

FIA Formula 3: As an even numbered driver you were in the first group, knowing that typically the track would be better for the second group, was that a consideration in your mind going into quality?

Minì: Not really. Of course when you get the group assigned, you know which one you want to be in, most likely. But at the end of the day, I think we've been lucky because we did not have any Red Flags. While in the second group there were quite a lot of Red Flags, and of course you have to adapt to improve lap times. But in the end, the first group was fine.

FIA Formula 3: Thank you. Congratulations. Moving to you Christian, P2 but quickest of Group B. It was a group that was more animated in terms of Red Flags, as Gabriel said, how difficult was it from the car?

Christian Mansell: We had basically finished our tyre warm-up when the Red Flag came out. So it was not ideal to stop the session. At the end of the day, that is how Monaco goes most of the time. You're not 100% lucky. I think definitely Group A have the advantage today with no Red Flags. It definitely brought a lot more pace out of the session. On the final Red Flag, I could definitely feel myself improving. But then, again, I was also quite happy to see the Red Flag as well, because it's secured my position, but not overall. I was quite happy, from inside the car it was very, very intense. I think my heart rate hasn't been that high in a race car for quite a while.

FIA Formula 3: It’s a front row start for the Feature Race, at this point in the season, how important is the Qualifying result you have today?

Mansell: Extremely important. We have had a really tough time figuring out this Medium tyre, ART in general. So to come back to the Softs after what looked like a very positive Round 1 in Bahrain it was hard. It's very important to claw back the points that we lost in Melbourne and Imola. It's super important. This is an awesome start to try and pull back some big points. At the end of the day Monaco is all about the start on the Sunday, just trying to get a good launch. I want to make sure I'm not too far away from these two when the lights go out and try and hold position. I want to have a safe race, because at the end of the day you're not really doing this race at 100%. You're sort of conserving. You're not trying to brush the walls, because, you know, if you're in P1 you have an easy 25 points, and you don't just want to throw that away. And for me, I'm just trying to get a podium. That is the goal just to secure points. Just to be smart, not too reckless, because this track doesn't really reward recklessness like other tracks.

FIA Formula 3: Thank you very much, Christian. Finally moving on to you, Luke. It looked like a strong session for you until that last final touch on your final push lap. Can you tell us how the session went for you?

Luke Browning: So when I say, I put it all on the line, I think I did that. I think every push lap up until that point we were P1. The car felt phenomenal. I felt really confident in the car, we were pushing. I think the one thing I wanted to come from Monaco was knowing that I didn't leave anything on the table. Today I didn't. Unfortunately, it was just a little bit too much curve. But I really think this would have been the lap. But P3 is great points, and consistently being there in the Feature Race, and then scoring solid points in the Sprint Race will be a successful weekend.

FIA Formula 3: Being a Macau Grand Prix winner I am sure that you had high hopes for today's Qualifying session, tomorrow you'll be starting P10 on the reverse grid for the Sprint Race. Realistically, what you can gain from this starting position on Saturday?

Browning: On these roads maybe a position, any more than that is probably not going to happen unless someone is severely slow in front, which being in Formula 3, the standard is very high so the chance of that is probably quite slim. I think, regardless it is an exciting race, Monaco. And even if you can't overtake, it's fun to drive. And I think it will be fun to watch. The main thing driving-wise is optimising in Qualifying. Now that part is out of the way it is all about keeping your head during the races. We'll see how everyone gets off the start. I think that's going to be the main thing and then we will just keep it between the walls.

FIA Formula 3: Great stuff, thanks very much all.