2023 Round 7 post-Qualifying press conference

Thoughts from Fornaroli, Goethe and Martí FIA Formula 3: Many congratulations to the top three qualifiers for the FIA Formula 3 Feature Race here at Silverstone. In third place, Josep María Martí for Campos Racing. In second place Oliver Goethe, for Trident, and taking his first pole in Formula 3, our polesitter Leonardo Fornaroli, also for Trident. Leonardo, many congratulations, your first pole position in Formula 3. How are you feeling right now?

Leonardo Fornaroli: Of course, I'm very happy. Silverstone is a track that I love and to take my first pole position here, it's special for me. Today I felt very comfortable with the car and also with the track. Also, thanks to Trident for the mega job they did and my family.

FIA Formula 3: You said that you felt very comfortable with the car, but why do you think you made the difference? Where do you think you made the difference on track today?

Fornaroli: I think the key point for this weekend's Qualifying was the preparation on the simulator. I think we did a mega job with my engineer, and also with my teammates and with the Team Manager. We work all together and as soon as I went on the track for Free Practice, I was feeling already very comfortable with everything and I think they key point was just the preparation on the simulator.

FIA Formula 3: Obviously you'll be starting tomorrow on the reverse grid from P12. From this starting position at a track where we know it's quite challenging, there are overtaking opportunities. What are your hopes from the race tomorrow with the pace that you have here?

Fornaroli: I mean tomorrow there is a high chance of rain and we are starting quite in the back, I mean in P12. Tomorrow the main goal will just be to score as many points as possible, but without doing any like stupid mistakes and without taking too many risks.

FIA Formula 3: Thank you very much, Leo. Congratulations on today. Moving on to you, Oliver. P2, your best Qualifying result in Formula 3 Qualifying so far. A great day for Trident with 1-2. how was the session for you today?

Oliver Goethe: It feels amazing to be on the front row, especially with this man (Fornaroli). The team did an amazing job. Like Fornaroli, I really love Silverstone. This is my first time racing in England and I'm really happy to be on the front row here. Like I said the team did an amazing job for me. In Free Practice, I struggled a little bit more, but I'm even more happy with how we reacted. We analysed everything and found a few key things to improve and it clearly worked out for me.

FIA Formula 3: Looking at the Teams’ Standings, with PREMA Racing having sort of an off day today, how important was it for Trident to really nail those Qualifying laps?

Goethe: Yeah, that's super important. I think Gabriel was P5 as well, so three Tridents in the top five. It's the best you can ask for really, and we just have to keep our noses clean and get some good points for the team.

FIA Formula 3: It's been a challenging season for you so far, maybe not exactly going according to plan. How important was it to qualify on the front row at this moment of the season for you?

Goethe: Yeah, it's a great bounce back to the compared to the last few rounds. The last few rounds, the pace has been quite strong, but I've never really had a clean weekend like I did in Bahrain. Now qualifying towards the top, it's a lot more possible and the pace is again really strong. So, it’s really important for the Championship and for my confidence.

FIA Formula 3: Thank you very much, Ollie. Moving on to you Pepe, P3 in Qualifying today, which is a great result after a challenging and difficult weekend for you in Austria. How was the session for you today?

Josep María Martí: Well, it was a pretty good session. Obviously, I can't complain about the result, but I think that. The session itself was quite bad. From my side, I think I made a lot of mistakes in the first run, so that put me a little bit out of position. Then, I think the pace of the second run was much better. I think I did a much better run and the lap was pretty nice. Also, we have to be optimistic and say that obviously we can fight for a good weekend and score good points, but at the same time Trident have done a really good job it seems. We have a strong car so I think we can battle it out with them. I think tomorrow will be a good chance to climb up some positions and see how the car behaves and try to strike on the front row on Sunday.

FIA Formula 3: You're mentioning tomorrow, you'll be starting from P10. We don't know what the track conditions will be by tomorrow. You're saying that you can move and progress through the field. What's the plan because it might be a bit difficult depending on the track conditions?

Martí: Absolutely, I mean it's going to be challenging either way. I know that obviously moving up is difficult by itself, but on the track with so many high-speed corners, so much dirty air, and a lot of slipstream from being behind. For us, it's definitely going to be challenging. Obviously, if it's wet then we might have some more chances, but at the same time we start P10, so you never know how it’s going to be. You never know if there’s going to be a crash ahead or whatever, so I have to be smart tomorrow. I have to obviously know that I'm in a position where I'm taking points is really important for the Championship. I think Gabriel is doing what he needs to do because he's P5, so he's starting right in front of me tomorrow and behind me on Sunday. So, I'm going to try to get past him tomorrow, try to score more points than him, but I'm sure that he's going to try to do the opposite. I'm looking forward to tomorrow and obviously I think that at Campos, we always have a better race car than we do a Qualifying car, so I'm very much looking forward to tomorrow.

FIA Formula 3: Well, thank you very much. Best of luck for the races to all three of you.