2019 Round 3 Race 2 quotes

FIA Formula 3: Jake Hughes, Round 6 Race 2 winner! Were you expecting that?

Jake Hughes: I started second and I thought I had more pace than Lirim Zendeli on pole so maybe I hoped so. I had a good start but unfortunately I ran wide in Turn 1 so I couldn't keep the inside for Turn 3. Then it was a big fight for the first two or three laps after that when the DRS finally enabled. I briefly took the lead and realised quite quickly that Robert and Marcus Armstrong were just quicker. Bearing in mind the race we had yesterday with the DRS train, I tried to be a bit clever. When Robert came past I tried not to force him to defend so that we could get away, and when Marcus came past, I don't know if he saw but I gave a signal to say 'carry on' to try and break the DRS with Max Fewtrell, which is what we did. After that it was just, even if I didn't quite have the pace of the two guys in front, we could pull away. It was a quite comfortable race for me after that until the second virtual safety car when for some reason my tyres just died. I don't know what I did wrong but as soon as it went green again I had nothing. I knew Jehan was fourth so bearing in mind they had the same car and I was getting a gap that they would be quicker, so if my tyres really fell off I was a bit worried about that. Nevertheless even when I fell out of DRS in the last few laps with the two guys in front I was quite confident that they would have a fight in the last couple of laps, which is what happened. I thought that if someone was maybe pushed wide I could get P2, which is what happened and then I inherited P1 afterwards. I think overall it's a strong weekend for the team. I don't think we had the pace of PREMA unlike in Paul Ricard where I think we did, but I think on merit we'd have had P3 today anyway which would have already been a strong result for the team, but to get a win is a nice Sunday!

FIA Formula 3: I guess it's the case that you'll take a win however it comes?

Jake: Yeah, a win's a win! It doesn't make it any less enjoyable. I won this race last year actually so I'll have to come back next year and do it again.

FIA Formula 3: Next up is Silverstone, probably a place where you'd like to show the real pace of the HWA car?

Jake: The last two times I've been to Silverstone I was really quick, but both times I had an unfortunate result in Race 1 with a DNF. I've never scored any points there even if my pace was good enough to fight for the podium. I'd really love to stand on that podium in front of the British fans.

FIA Formula 3: Jehan, congratulations on P2 today. You've had quite an eventful race can you tell us how it went from your point of view?

Jehan Daruvala: I think a lot of stuff went on. I can't remember everything to be honest. In Turn 1 me and Marcus Armstrong were side-by-side and then there was a spinning car of Pedro Piquet so I had to take avoiding action. There was a big fight going on and I didn't know who was doing what so I just took the cautious approach, a bit like I did in Paul Ricard, knowing that the car was good. Slowly, I worked my way up. The guys didn't make it easy, but then I don't expect them to make it easy. Some battles got really close. I took quite a few laps to pass Lirim Zendeli and a lot of battles with Richard Verschoor as well. I lost a lot of time and then finally got behind Leonardo Pulcini and Max Fewtrell. I knew I had a lot more pace but Leo was making it very hard for me to come by. I overtook him and he came straight back at me. I got into fourth, tried to break the DRS of Max and almost did it but then almost spun on the last corner. I thought I was almost going to crash, so that was lucky. Then the virtual safety car came out after that and the last lap was sketchy as well because Max was in DRS and I knew he was going to have to attack. I did my best to defend. I just feel like even though I'm second I'm not quite happy because I wasn't in the fight for the win. I feel like the car was good enough and if I'd have had a good, clean start like the others I could have fought up there and been in the fight for the win.

FIA Formula 3: It's more points for PREMA in the championship. How does that fight feel between you and Robert at the top of the standings?

Jehan: We're still only three rounds in, it's obviously pretty close. We all know that, it's not a surprise to anyone. My goal, just like Robert, is just to be the fastest when I go out onto the track. We're teammates, we're in a really good car, so we're bound to fight each other at one point.

FIA Formula 3: Robert, another podium for the season but definitely not the way you would have liked to have had one. How was the race for you?

Robert Shwartzman: The race was really tough. I had an OK start, I gained some positions at the beginning and then I took the lead. After that we had some nice, close fighting with Marcus Armstrong. That was nice. We generally had really good pace for the whole race, but unfortunately there was an incident on the last lap. I'm really sorry for Marcus for not finishing and for my penalty as well. I just couldn't do anything in that situation. When you have no control in the car it's something where you just hope for the best and that's all. On the whole the weekend was not too bad. We had quite a good recovery from qualifying, took some points, and I think now we just need to settle down a little bit, think about the next race and prepare for Silverstone.

FIA Formula 3: How was that last lap incident from your perspective in the car?

Robert: It always feels really bad when you make contact generally, but with a teammate it's even worse because we have respect for each and you don't want situations like that to come up. Unfortunately it happened, and I can't say much more than that.

FIA Formula 3: When you are fighting for the lead, trying to hold on to position and you know it's your teammate, do you approach that fight differently than you would with any other driver?

Robert: No. We had a fair fight. I didn't do anything particularly different. I was just fighting and defending like I should. It's just normal fighting like everyone else. If was fighting with someone else it would be the same, I would try to defend, protect and try to gain positions if I have the chance.

FIA Formula 3: On a more positive note, that's another podium for you and a good recovery from what has been a slightly disappointing weekend compared to the previous two rounds. What can we expect from you in Silverstone?

Robert: My target as I say every weekend is to win and be the quickest, and to bring home as good a result as possible. The target for Silverstone is to win, obviously, and to be the quickest. I just need to prepare and I'm quite sure we're going to be there.