2021 Round 5 post-Race 1 press conference

Thoughts from Colombo, Crawford and Stanek

FIA Formula 3: Congratulations to the top three finishers for Race 1 of the FIA Formula 3 championship here at Spa-Francorchamps. In third place, Roman Stanek for Hitech Grand Prix, second Jak Crawford also for Hitech, and taking his first win in Formula 3, finally, our winner Lorenzo Colombo for Campos Racing. Lorenzo, very well done, after the disappointment of Hungary how good does this moment feel?

Lorenzo Colombo: I think let's call it better... it's the second win on track, and then unfortunately the one in Hungary got taken away. First of all, it was really tricky to start the race because conditions are always changing here in Spa, the weather is never stable and sometimes it's raining in one sector and another sector can be dry so it's really really tricky to make a decision, especially for the stewards and for the race director. I think we managed to do everything correctly, we just give it a try at the beginning. Of course, I had much more visibility than anyone behind me because I was P1 and I only had the Safety Car, but the spray from it was quite big at the beginning so I think it was the right decision to stop and give it a second try and finally we had the conditions to race so well done to everyone for managing this.

FIA Formula 3: Lorenzo you were the class of the field, have you always loved racing in the rain?

Colombo: To be honest, yes, in the rain nobody is prepared because already from yesterday in Qualifying was a big surprise for everyone. The massive work we have done from quali was to analyse the data in order to get the tyre up to temperature quicker and make them work faster in a quicker way and I think I showed that in the race. So we made a good effort on the driving analysis.

FIA Formula 3: And can you give us some idea of just how tough the conditions were out there and where on the track was it worst?

Colombo: For me let's say at the beginning of the race Sector 1 was pretty wet, I mean in the straights there was so much spay considering also on the first formation lap I had some aquaplaning in the beginning so I talked to my engineer a couple of times. I think it was a bit on the edge to start the race because we were not going full speed and we were already sliding in the straights. It's not really comfortable driving when you have things like that. During the race, I think it got better and the track was just drying lap by lap, so I think we went in the right direction with the forecast.

FIA Formula 3: Many congratulations Lorenzo. Jak, coming to you, your first podium in Formula 3, huge congratulations. You chose a tough race in which to do it, what does this result mean to you?

Jak Crawford: It means a lot being my first podium in F3, we've had many chances to stand on the podium this year but haven't quite managed to get it. After the break and a sort of reset, hoping for a better second half of the season.

FIA Formula 3: How much confidence does this result give you going forwards?

Crawford: It gives me a lot of confidence, obviously my last few rounds haven't been the best and being in the top 12 and taking advantage of the reverse grid gives me a lot of confidence to be on the podium and hopefully we'll see this afternoon how it goes.

FIA Formula 3: Lorenzo has already spoken about the advantage of being the first car in that race. How bad was the visibility behind him?

Crawford: It wasn't too bad, I'm sure people in the mid-pack had it a lot worse than I did. He was so quick in the beginning he was able to get the tryes going a lot quicker, and so the visibility wasn't too bad when he pulled away so.

FIA Formula 3: Well done Jack. Roman coming to you now, your second podium of the season. How happy does this result make you?

Roman Stanek: It makes me really happy, I was not sure if we had good speed in the rain coming here to Spa but it showed in Qualifying that we have the pace to race in the top five, top ten so I am happy that we did P3 in this race considering Race 3 in Budapest was not so great.

FIA Formula 3: And how good was your car in those conditions?

Stanek: It was really good, I felt really comfortable with the car, the set-up was right I think. We were just missing the tyres a bit in the beginning compared to Lorenzo but I'm sure we can fix that for Race 2 this afternoon and it will be good.

FIA Formula 3: If we have another wet race this evening, or tomorrow, what's the biggest thing you've learnt today that will help you?

Stanek: Not to over push on the corners because then the exit is not so good. It's quite important to focus on the exit, especially in Turn 1 and Turn 15. So just to focus on the exit, to get a good tow, and to try to overtake because I will be starting P10 which is not great because of the visibility. But that's life and we push!

FIA Formula 3: Thank you Roman.