Round 6 Post-Feature Race Thoughts of the Top Three

FIA Formula 3: Ernesto Rivera, winner of the Feature Race here at Spa. Your first Feature Race win, your second win this season. What a great achievement from P4. How was it from the car?

Ernesto Rivera: Yeah, it was a very tough race, lots of tyre degradation. In the beginning I was trying to be very smooth, not push so much and middle to the end I started to push a bit more. The DRS was super powerful. I was able to get into the lead with around four or five laps to go. It's super strong because of the disappointment in Silverstone as I got the penalty. Good to bounce back with some good points.

FIA Formula 3: When did you realise that you were on your way to a victory today, that it was possible?

Rivera: I think when I was running P3, catching Hiyu and Freddie. I knew the victory was possible. When I got by Hiyu, I could see that Freddie was struggling with the tyres, so at that moment I knew it was possible. When I got the lead, I tried to push to get him out of the DRS, and after that, I was just managing the last four laps.

FIA Formula 3: What does that win mean to you at this point in the season?

Rivera: It means a lot. I've had the pace all season to be here on the podium, but sometimes I don't put it together. Now everyone can see, and myself, that I can win a Feature Race.

FIA Formula 3: What can we expect for you for next week? There's no rest and we're going straight to Budapest.

Rivera: Actually I've never raced in Budapest, but I like the track a lot. I would want to be on the podium on the Feature Race.

FIA Formula 3: Thank you very much. Great job today. Hiyu Yamakoshi, P2 in today's Feature Race. It's another P2, how do you feel?

Hiyu Yamakoshi: Not too bad. Yeah, not too bad. I had the pole position at the Red Bull Ring and I couldn't get the Feature Race result, and now, finally, I got a result with P2 again. Unfortunately I thought I could win the race in the beginning but again the P1 goes to a Campos driver. It's quite a shame, but also, it's showing my pace and showing how strong we are. So hopefully we can bring this momentum all the way.

FIA Formula 3: There was a lot of action on track. It was really fun to watch. Was it fun from within the car?

Yamakoshi: Yeah, for me, the most important thing was, if I could, I just tried to pull away and out of the DRS. But it looked like it was impossible, so I just tried to manage the tyre and manage the race. Yeah, in the end, everything was pretty much the way I wanted. But just the pace of Ernesto meant I couldn’t win.

FIA Formula 3: What's the plan to keep the momentum through Budapest next week?

Yamashoki: For me, just trust myself, trust the team, and put everything together that I can.

FIA Formula 3: Thank you very much. Freddie Slater, P3 from Pole Position. Obviously, this is definitely not what you came in for this morning. Still, it's P3, it's a strong result and you close the gap in the Drivers' Championship. How are you feeling right now?

Freddie Slater: Yeah, of course, a little bit disappointed because the pace just wasn't strong enough to win at that point. Starting on pole, I had the anti-stall, which is something I didn't really understand because nothing changed from yesterday's start, so we need to analyse that. Then we need to analyse the pace because we just struggled a little bit in the race runs. I think also missing out on yesterday again the Sprint Race give a lot of valuable data for the team to analyse the car and make the car better for the Sunday race and I think missing out on yesterday, which we saw in Red Bull Ring definitely doesn't help. So a little bit annoying what happened yesterday, but that's out of my control, so you just have to try and maximise what you can in the Feature Race. At the end of the day, we just didn't have the pace.

FIA Formula 3: How tough was it out there when you know you have the fight on track, getting back into the lead and then losing it again and fighting for it again? How was it?

Slater: It seems like these cars are quite like draggy. So the tow and the DRS is super powerful. So you actually have to have quite a big gap to stay in the lead in the straights, especially at a track like Spa. So it wasn't easy, of course. But I think we still did a good job.

FIA Formula 3: Does it feel like that first win in Formula 3 is coming?

Slater: Well, we keep putting ourselves in really good positions for it to happen, but it hasn’t happened yet. There's been a few things out of our control. Today it was probably more in our control, so we need to analyse why we didn't have the pace and why we couldn't keep at the front, look after the tyres and then we'll come back stronger in Budapest.

FIA Formula 3: So what's the plan in Budapest?

Slater: Budapest is one of the special tracks. It's normally very hot there this time of year as well. Very tricky, very dusty at points and it's going to be an enjoyable weekend. Hopefully we can do what we did in qualifying and practise this time at Spa and Silverstone and then build on it for the races.

FIA Formula 3: Thanks Freddie, see you in Budapest. Thank you.