Round 8 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 Budapest. In third place we have Leonardo Fornaroli from Trident, in second is Nikola Tsolov from ART Grand Prix and taking his first Pole Position is Laurens van Hoepen also from ART Grand Prix. Laurens, congratulations your first pole position on the team radio you said “finally”, what made the difference for you this weekend? Laurens van Hoepen: I think the pace was good already from Practice although I didn't even really show that much. When I went on track the first run was a bit tricky, but the second was a bit better, the third run then looked much better. I was close a couple of times before but not able to put a lap together in some other events so to be on pole finally is nice.

FIA Formula 3: The pole lap looked right on the edge with some pretty big slides in there, just how close were you to losing it and how tough was it to put the lap together?

van Hoepen: I think because the track was hot today it was really tricky to put a lap together, track temperatures were through the roof. Of course that makes the car a lot more unstable for everyone. I think a lot of people had huge snaps as you can see. It was tricky lap but, in the end, I managed to pull it together even though there were some obstacles, I didn’t make the last sector easy for myself, but I put it together and, in the end, it was a good lap.

FIA Formula 3: You’ve had three podiums so far this season, but they have all come in Sprint races, what's going to be the key to picking up a trophy in the Feature Race on Sunday?

van Hoepen: First of all, it starts with the start, so we just have a good start and then after manage the tyres well. Just make sure that you manage them well and bring them to the end of the race because I think it's hard to overtake at this track. But not impossible so we still have to be focused on doing the job. But it does start from the start, it is key.

FIA Formula 3: Good luck for that and well done today Nikola, second place for you today your best Qualifying performance in Formula 3 so far, how happy are with the front row start?

Nikola Tsolov: Obviously quite happy with the result. I wouldn't say I'm happy with my job in Qualifying because I think it came down to a bit of luck in the end, but I managed to put a lap together. I think we would have still been probably top seven even if everyone crossed the line but I think there's definitely been improvements in the last few rounds. In Qualifying I have been showing the potential to put it on pole. For example, Silverstone I was coming on for a lap where I was blocked so I think that was a moment where I didn't have luck, but now it has come to my side, and I've had luck.

FIA Formula 3: It was a tricky session, we had the Red Flag at the end but how tough was it to deal with some aspects like traffic and even track limits in that session?

Tsolov: For me in particular it was quite difficult to deal with traffic. I was in a pretty bad position I would say on the first two sets, especially the first one, but for the third one I tried to just to do a normal job, nothing special. I think we were in a better position, I said to myself ‘OK now it's the last chance I've got to make up some places,’ so I just tried to make it a clean lap, put it together, nothing special and that's what happened.

FIA Formula 3: You’ve won twice this season already, but it’s only been in Sprint races that you've had your victories, what's is it going to take to end that statistic on Sunday?

Tsolov: I think what it takes is having strong pace in Qualifying and strong pace in the race both on the same weekend. We've shown on occasions where we are strong in the race for the Sprint, but we didn’t do an amazing Qualifying, so it's about just putting it all together.

FIA Formula 3: Leo, thanks for waiting. It's third place for you on Sunday's grid, how was the session from your perspective?

Leonardo Fornaroli: It was a very tricky session. I actually struggled to understand the car due to the hot temperatures. It was very unpredictable. In set one I had made a mistake in Sector 3, so I wasn't feeling too good. In Sector 2 I think I did quite a decent job I managed to put a decent lap together. Then in the third set I thought I was going to improve but like set one, I felt again that it was difficult also because during the warmup procedure I was stuck behind a lot of cars. So, we had to change at the last second the warmup procedure. I think we were not in the window with the tyres, so this made me lap even more difficult. Anyway, it's not a bad position for the weekend.

FIA Formula 3: With all you just described and with just one practice session earlier today, how tough is it to get into rhythm around this track?

Fornaroli: It is not easy, especially in Free Practice at the start the track was super dirty so it was improving lap by lap but also, we stayed on the same set of tyres. It was tricky because I was losing grip as well lap after lap, it’s not an easy track.

FIA Formula 3: You’ve out qualified the three drivers ahead of you in the Standings going into this weekend. Are you know having to think about the points situation a little bit more as we get towards the end of the season now?

Fornaroli: A bit more yes, but I will just focus on myself. Like the last race, just trying to score as many points as possible to try to get close to the championship lead.

FIA Formula 3: Thank you to all, well done today.