Round 13 Post-Sprint Race Press Conference

FIA Formula 2: Hello from Qatar and welcome to the press conference of the top three in FIA Formula 2 Sprint Race. In third place we have Richard Verschoor from MP Motorsport in second is Jak Crawford from DAMS Lucas Oil and taking the win is Oliver Bearman from PREMA Racing. Ollie your third win of the season but it looked like you had to be patient during that one.
Oliver Bearman: Yeah, I was trying to be patient, but the lap count was dropping. At one stage in the race I was catching him quite a lot but then when you get within two seconds, you start to struggle a bit more, you pick up dirty air. The DRS detection is at the end of all the fast corners, so it is really hard to follow. With the Medium tyres he was dropping in right corners but in the left corners he was still quicker than me with the softer compound. It was a tough one, I was really having to fight for it. When I did get the chance to go for it, I had to go all in, but I am glad it paid off it was a really fun race.
FIA Formula 2: Tell us about that move down into Turn 1, did you expect him to defend the inside, or did you catch him out coming from so far back?
Bearman: I was far, I was trying to make him not think I was coming. Then I went for it at the last minute, and he left me just enough space. He did close the door a little but it made sense. I managed to put my nose in and get through. I knew once I was into the corner I actually had more grip in the right hand, as he was struggling with the front left, once I was alongside it was move done. It was a risky one.
FIA Formula 2: It is your third victory, but they have all been in Sprint Races. Do you feel like you’ve got the car capable of winning tomorrow?
Bearman: Yeah, but I am starting from P10 so I probably will struggle a bit more. It’s been an up and down, particularly in Qualifying missing some confidence in the car. I think in race trim when we get things right we are really fast, but it hasn’t been every race like that. Let’s see how we are tomorrow. I got some experience alone on track but also following and I have a few ideas to change for tomorrow. I think we can have a good race if we strategies correctly and put a good race together.
FIA Formula 2: Congratulations, Jak P2 for you. You had to be even more patient that Ollie, tell us about the fight with Victor.
Jak Crawford: It was a crazy battle. I felt like we were battling almost every lap into Turn 1. There were about five laps where we battled through the whole middle sector. It was a tough battle, and there were some moments that were quite on the edge of racing. At the end of the day, I knew I had to be patient, I knew I was going to get him at some point, I just had to be patient, I knew his tyres were going to drop off at the end.
FIA Formula 2: When you did get through, did you think you might have the pace to catch the leaders?
Crawford: Yeah, I remember I spent the whole, I don’t know how many laps the race was, but the first 20 laps I was right on Victor’s gearbox. I was in DRS every single lap. Finally, I had free air, and the car balance completely changed in the free air. I had so much more grip out of the dirty air. I knew Isack was in the lead and his pace was dropping. I think I was catching them initially at the time and then it dropped a bit. I thought I was going to catch them, but I knew once it reached four laps to go that it just wasn’t enough.
FIA Formula 2: It’s your fifth podium of this year plus a victory on top of that. What are your targets for the final few races?
Crawford: I want to close out well. My ultimate goal is P3 in the Championship which I am quite close to Paul Aron and Zane Maloney. It starts with a good tomorrow, happy with this result. We racked up good points, kept my nose clean. The big points are in the Feature tomorrow.
FIA Formula 2: Finally, it’s the final day of Movember, is the moustache staying?
Crawford: No, I made a bet with my mechanics, if I won the race, I was going to keep it for tomorrow and they were going to shave everything expect a moustache as well. But I guess I didn’t win, unless Ollie gets disqualified it’s coming off.
FIA Formula 2: Richard, thanks for waiting. Third on your MP Motorsport debut, it’s not a bad way to start with your new team is it?
Richard Verschoor: “Yeah, I’m happy. Was a good race. It didn’t start off so well at the start, I had quite a bad start. But it’s been nice working with the team. I know quite a lot of people from the team that are still there from when I was there back in the day. It’s been a good start, I am happy to work together. It’s quite a big difference coming from Trident I have to say, I still have to get used to things a bit, but today in the race, I already felt more confident, and I am looking forward to tomorrow.
FIA Formula 2: I was going to ask, what are things you have to get used to working with a new team and how does it impact your driving?
Verschoor: It’s mainly in car balance, which is changing quite a bit, the philosophies are quite different. It’s just different styles of driving the car, and mainly in Qualifying where you only have to extract the last few tenths are where things like that get difficult. I was happy with Qualifying yesterday, but it felt like it could have been more if I was more used to it, but that’s for Abu Dhabi.
FIA Formula 2: To go into the memory bank, you are the most recent F2 Feature Race winner back in Baku a couple of months ago. Can you follow that up with another win here tomorrow?
Verschoor: We will try. We will do our best. I think the pace today was looking good but let’s see, in F2 anything can happen.