2023 Round 1 Feature Race: Thoughts from the top 3

Thoughts from Bortoleto, Goethe and Beganovic

FIA Formula 3: Gabriel Bortoleto the second FIA formula 3 race of your career and already a Feature Race win. How are you feeling right now?

Gabriel Bortoleto: I cannot feel better than this. Honestly, the race was amazing. Since the start of the race, I was trying to pull a gap to the guys behind. After the Safety Car, I was still on the pace, Minì managed to overtake me but because I knew that he got a penalty I was just trying to keep in the DRS zone and that's what I did for the whole race. I think the race was good, good points for the Championship as well and I couldn't imagine a better way to finish the weekend like this.

FIA Formula 3: How frustrating was it when we had the first Safety Car, and you were leading with a massive gap?

Bortoleto: Honestly, it's 30 cars on track, so it's obvious that we need to expect at least one Safety Car per race. So, I was not pushing 100% during that moment of the race, even if I was a lot quicker than everyone for many, many laps. I was expecting the Safety Car to come out at some point. I managed to work my tyres well during the first part of the race and then after that, I showed my pace at the end of the race as well. I was with Minì for the whole race, and we were pulling gaps from the guys behind as well.

FIA Formula 3: You were P2 in Qualifying, and you won the Feature Race. Yesterday in the Sprint Race it didn’t go so well, can you explain what happened during the Sprint and how you rebounded for today?

Bortoleto: The Sprint Race was not as planned because I had some contact during the race. I think it was not my day honestly, everywhere that I was putting my car I was getting sandwiched or not able to do what I want. It was quite odd for me because I never managed to make a proper overtake during the race in the way that I wanted to. In the middle of the pack, it's quite difficult to show your pace and to go forward. I hope next time is not so much like the first Sprint Race.

FIA Formula 3: All in all, it was a pretty positive race, next up is going to be new for everyone with Melbourne, Australia. How are you going to prepare?

Bortoleto: I have done a lot of simulator already and I will keep doing simulator and studying with the team. I think the track is new for everyone, so we don't have so much information from previous years, but I will keep working with the team.

FIA Formula 3: Thank you very much. Congratulations on today. Thank you. Thank you very much. Oliver Goethe P2 in today's FIA Formula 3 Feature Race here at the Bahrain International Circuit. This is your first podium in F3. How does that feel?

Oliver Goethe: It feels amazing! Obviously, I was quite closer to getting one last year, but now we actually got it. The race went very well. The start was not great. The initial launch was not so good, but I think the people behind didn't get the best of starts so I managed to keep my position at least. Then I was P4 for most of the start of the race. After, when the tyres started to go I managed to overtake Saucy and then I was catching Gabriel and Gabrielle in front. I was trying to keep within 5 seconds of Mini who had a 5-second penalty. Even without the Safety Car, I would have come second and I’m really happy with this result.

FIA Formula 3: It’s a 1-2 for Trident. We know that they were not very happy with losing the team title last year to PREMA Racing. So what does it mean to you and to the team to start the season this way?

Goethe: It means a lot. I think we've worked really, really hard on the simulator and in preparation for this weekend, so the team definitely deserve this result. The car was amazing. They're a top team.

FIA Formula 3: Next up is Australia in Melbourne, which is quite exciting for everyone on the grid. A new venue, but also not the easiest one. What do you expect from Round 2?

Goethe: To be honest, I don't expect anything yet, so we'll see. We'll see how it goes. No one has driven there. No team has driven there in F3 yet. Everyone will do their best and we'll see what happens.

FIA Formula 3: Thank you very much. Congratulations on today and see you in Melbourne. Dino Beganovic, P3 in today's FIA Formula 3 Feature Race at the Bahrain International Circuit, your first race weekend in F3 and already your first podium finish. Would you say that that was a pretty positive weekend of all?

Dino Beganovic: I would say I have learned so much more than I expected during this weekend. Starting from Free Practice in terms of the mindset coming into the weekend. Obviously, there's not a lot of running which makes it a challenge before Qualifying to make a good position for the race. We started a little bit on the back foot in FP and then made a good step forward in Quali. Then we showed our strength in the races with the P4 in the Sprint and P3 now. I was very happy with today's race and starting from P8 and lots of nice overtakes, also the pace was good. So, I want to thank the team for the endless support because they did a great job during the whole weekend and they, as I said, I learned a lot of things this weekend.

FIA Formula 3: It was quite an eventful and enjoyable race to watch, how is it from the car?

Beganovic: I hope it was as enjoyable as it felt in the car. It was a really intense race. It was just keeping focused. Luke was coming very quickly behind, but I think he finished his tyres quite early when he caught me. Then I was just aiming to catch Gregoire, and with a little bit of luck with the safety car in the end I managed to get him just before that. So I think I was definitely right to go for the move straight away. For me, it was a very intense race. A lot of things happened inside the car and that’s why I’m very happy with it.

FIA Formula 3: Talking about tyres, we know that it's quite key and it's something that you have to learn coming into Formula 3. Do you feel like you've now understood everything that there is to understand about tyre management?

Beganovic: I think I've understood the basics, but there are still a lot of things to learn as I'm a rookie in the category I think still I can improve the race management in terms of tyres. I think I've got the basics now. Maybe I went a bit hard on the tyres at the beginning of the race, but I wanted to cool them down a little bit in the middle to have the last stint which worked well. So, I think I got the base level, but it's a very key factor in this category. Also for F2 and Formula 1, it's all about the tyres, because without the tyres we're not going anywhere.

FIA Formula 3: Next up on the calendar is Melbourne in Australia. How excited are you about going to that venue and how are you going to prepare for it?

Beganovic: I'm super, super excited. I don't think anybody has been there before as it's the first time for F3 and F2 going there. Very excited about that. There will be a lot of time spent in the simulator to prepare and as I said before, there is only a little bit of practice before Qualifying. That's why you want to get there as prepared as possible like any other track, but especially that one because I've never been there before, the team has never been there before, so it's going to be a lot of work off-track. It's good we have some time until then, so we can get back to the sim and get working.

FIA Formula 3: Thank you very much, Dino. Great job this weekend and see you in Melbourne.