Interview
FIA Formula 3: Christian Lundgaard, P1 today in FIA Formula 3 qualifying here at the Hungaroring. It's your first pole position in F3, how do you feel?
Christian Lundgaard: I feel relieved actually. It's good to be where we want to be. This is what we've been working for the whole year. We missed out by a little in Barcelona and then we've struggled a bit since then. I think we've had a pretty good car but we just haven't been able to put it together and that's basically the reason why we are where we are now. This is my favourite track so I'm happy that it's paid off in a way. Of course qualifying is just one part of the race weekend, and the race later today is another story. I hope to be able to finish the job.
FIA Formula 3: It seems like ART Grand Prix have plenty of pace this weekend, and you yourself were fastest in practice yesterday and grabbed pole position today. Does that give a lot of confidence going into Race 1?
Christian: It definitely gives me some confidence, but I wouldn't say it was a massive amount. To be fair I think the team's been working really hard the whole season. All three of us referring to teammates David Beckmann and Max Fewtrell have struggled quite a bit, but now we are here. It shows that we have got a good car and it shows that we are supposed to where we are. To finally be there this weekend is a relief for me and the team.
FIA Formula 3: It can be quite difficult to overtake here, but you're starting from pole position. What are your hopes for Race 1?
Christian: I'm actually feeling quite good for the race. It is a track which is very difficult to overtake on. A good start and I have a bit of an advantage to be fair, but it's a long race. 22 laps is a long race to watch out for tyre degradation. I'm looking forward to see if this morning can pay off.
FIA Formula 3: Jüri Vips, on the front row for this afternoon's Race 1, starting from P2. Can you talk us through that qualifying session from your perspective?
Jüri Vips: It was a pretty tricky session, the first run especially because the second run was pretty straight forward to be honest. We kind of got interrupted with our plan because we went out on track and we were out of sequence. We ended up doing an extra warm-up lap and then on the first push lap we had a yellow flag so I had to abort that. I think halfway into the session I didn't really have any laps in so that was a bit weird. The car was good all session really. I was a little bit frustrated afterwards because I don't think I delivered perfectly. It wasn't a bad lap but I don't know if it would have been good enough for pole or not. The main thing is that my main championship rivals, apart from Robert Shwartzman, are further back. That's very good for me.
FIA Formula 3: What are your thoughts about Race 1 this afternoon? You are starting from the front row - how confident do you feel of a good result?
Jüri: I'm always confident laughs. In truth I don't know. We'll have to see how the race goes. Obviously we will try for the win and try to close the gap at the top of the championship as much as I can.
FIA Formula 3: Max Fewtrell, P3 for you in qualifying this morning ahead of Race 1 later today. How do you feel with that?
Max Fewtrell: I think we're really pleased with P3, especially after Silverstone which was a real disappointment being my home weekend. We had the pace there but the second set doesn't didn't seem to work out for us. We've bounced back here in Hungary with third, and it was only about one tenth away from pole even after I made a big mistake in Turn 2. I'm definitely happy to have gotten away with that! It's just great that the team and I have bounced back. We've got the pace and we can really fight for the win this afternoon. If you're at the front in practice that's always a good sign, and it's an even better sign if you're at the front in quali. It can be really hard to overtake at this track so it's good to be starting in the top three. We just need to get off the line and see what we can do.
FIA Formula 3: What were the conditions like out on track? The track was dry but it looked like there were still damp patches in one or two places.
Max: Yeah it was quite tricky because when we all went out originally there were a few damp patches. In the end the whole track dried pretty quickly but all the kerbs and AstroTurf’s were still really wet so you had to be extra cautious if you ran wide trying to find that extra bit of time. It was the same for everyone and we managed to get through it.