Round 7 Post Sprint Race Press Conference

FIA Formula 3: Hello and welcome to Silverstone for the press conference of our top three finishers in today’s FIA Formula 3 Sprint Race. In third place we have Mari Boya from Campos second, in second is Martinius Stenshrone from Hitech TGR and your race winner is Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak also from Campos Racing. Tas, congratulations on your first win in FIA Formula 3 just how good does that feel?

Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak: Yeah thank you very much. It feels super good, we’ve had a tough season so far, but my pace has always been there to be in the top five which is about putting things together, we have struggled with that so far. This weekend, qualifying was unlucky with a problem and a mistake on my side. So just put it P12 so we started pole today. Honestly, I think I managed the race pretty well and came out with the win so really happy.

FIA Formula 3: Obviously the target would have been to win from pole but what was going through your mind when Théophile Nael overtook you at the restart, were you still calm or were you slightly worried at that stage?

Inthraphuvasak: We got a good start off the line, kept the lead and then I saw that he was pushing really hard behind. He got passed me and from that point on I tried to manage, but I stayed within DRS of him so that he doesn’t pull away too much. I saw mid race that he was struggling a lot with his rears, so I took advantage of that and pulled away in the end.

FIA Formula 3: It was really well managed there, does this feel like this race could maybe be a catalyst for you with your first win, that there could be some more strong results on the horizon this season?

Inthraphuvasak: Yeah 100%. I think this win gives me a lot of confidence. We’ve had the speed throughout the season, just not putting things together. But this definitely boosts my confidence and hopefully we keep the momentum up for the remainder of the season.

FIA Formula 3: Thank you, Tas. Martinius, to you, sixth to second for you today. Was the first lap, staying out of trouble and making a few places, critical to that result do you think?

Martinius Stenshorne: Yes, I think it was important. I started P6 and then I think I was P4 after Lap 1 and then I made my way up to P3 a bit after. I think that was important. I think we had not bad pace, I was trying to play it smart in the beginning, saving a bit. I think that helped us today compared to Nael who was starting to struggle, his pace was really fast in the middle. I just tried to keep the DRS and then we were not so bad. I want to say a big thanks to Hitech for giving me a competitive car today.

FIA Formula 3: You had to fight your way into second place, but once you were there did you feel like you maybe had the pace to catch Tas? Did you have your eyes on the victory?

Stenshorne: Yeah for sure the first laps when I have passed Theo and I was catching him a bit. But on the last couple of laps, I was starting to struggle a bit, and he kept the pace up, so it was a bit difficult. Overall, really happy with our race.

FIA Formula 3: Your second place today follows your win on Sunday in Austria. Do you feel like you are pulling yourself back into the title fight a little bit now?

Stenshrone: I hope so, that’s the goal of course. It was not the start to the season that we wanted. We have had some strong weekends lately. Of course Austria was good getting the Feature Race win starting quite far back, hopefully we can have another strong result tomorrow.

FIA Formula 3: Thank you very much. Mari thanks for waiting. A late charge to P3 for you from ninth, how much fun was that?

Boya: It was really fun, I think the overtakes in the races have been really strong the last few races and again today in Silverstone we showed great pace, so really happy. Also, for the team because one and three is a really nice result and tomorrow I think we will have a nice opportunity to fight.

FIA formula 3: Just picking up on some specifics of that race, talk us through that move at the final corner there to get up to third, it was reminiscent of the certain Lewis Hamilton a few years ago.

Boya: Yeah, it was really nice. At that point I was having a bit of conditions on the tyres, so I just tried to focus on the exits to prepare well. They were fighting so I think it was well maximised. Really happy, it was the move for the podium so happy with that. I feel really prepared for tomorrow.

FIA Formula 3: I can tell you are looking forward to tomorrow, especially starting further up the grid, but this is back-to-back P3 results for you. Do you feel like you are building a bit of momentum as well?

Mari Boya: For sure. We have had a lot of bad luck at the beginning of the season, especially qualifying. Many times, we have had things that we cannot manage, outside of our control but races are like this and now we are really maximising everything that we have so let’s enjoy the moment. I want to focus on tomorrow, race by race and it’s looking really nice.

FIA Formula 3: Well done Mari, congratulations everyone.