Round 6 Post-Qualifying Press Conference

FIA Formula 3: Welcome everyone to today's FIA Formula 3 Press Conference following Qualifying here at Spa. Joining us P3 from Van Amersfoort Racing, it's Hiyu Yamakoshi. In second place from MP Motorsport, it's Tuukka Taponen. And from TRIDENT, capturing his second consecutive pole position in F3, it's Freddie Slater. Freddie, congratulations, pole at Silverstone, now pole here at Spa. Can you just take me through that lap?

Freddie Slater: Yeah, it was a difficult session for everyone. I think we saw the drops of rain, let's say, when we were five minutes before going green. And then you're just thinking, do you do out-warm-up? Do you do out-push? You don't know. And then you see what everyone else is doing. And everyone thought, let's go out, push. So then you followed the group and then you realise you've got one lap at that point that the tyre really lasts. And I managed to do a really good lap. I was very happy with the lap. It was very on the limit, very controlled in the high speed. So no real margin for track limits, which is kind of the key in those sort of situations. So very happy with the job we did. And then obviously, it was a bit chaotic. And with the fuel load around here, it makes quite a big difference. So you're always getting them prepared for the second run. And then the rain came and then also a lot of chaos. So, yeah, it was a difficult session for everyone.

FIA Formula 3: Yeah, you have a lot of pace in Free Practice as well. Did the team make any changes to the car at all going from FP to quali?

Slater: The Championship made changes. We had a completely different type of tyre for the Qualifying session. We had a Medium tyre, in the Practice we had Hards. So the car balance was completely different now. And also the track has F1, F2. So now the track has changed another level. And it's always difficult as drivers to wake up in one lap and try and get on with it. So, yeah, very happy with what the team did. And they tried to manage it in the best way possible.

FIA Formula 3: What do you think it is going to take for you to get victory on Sunday?

Slater: Hopefully a few more things to go our way. Yeah, recently, a few things have not been going quite right that probably cost us probably getting that first win. But that's motorsport at the end of the day. And I think we're doing a really good job in terms of pace at the moment. And now we need to just keep converting the points and racking up the points and then see where we end up in a couple of rounds time. 

FIA Formula 3: Well, congratulations on pole Freddie. Tuukka coming to you. Just two-tenths separating yourself and Freddie was pole in the cards today.

Tuukka Taponen: I'm very happy with second place, to be honest. We have done a step forward. It's been a difficult year so far for us, finally able to show what we are capable of when things goes well. So, yeah, I'm very happy for this.  

FIA Formula 3: We saw the Red Flag in the situation that happened there. Was it really challenging for you guys to find track position out there for quali?

Taponen: Yeah, I think the sequence for everyone was not ideal with the drops of rain, as well as the chaos at the end, everyone waiting for the slipstream and ideal track position. So yeah, it was a tricky session for everyone. 

FIA Formula 3: In terms of car set up from FP into quali was there any big changes to the car for yourself?

Taponen: Not really. Everyone from the team felt pretty good with the car. So yeah, we didn't do massive changes. Just the tyre compound went from Hard to Medium. So it changes quite a lot as well as the extra grip coming from F1 and F2. It does change, you need to set up for that. 

FIA Formula 3; Well, congratulations on P2. Hiyu coming to you, big jump from where you were in Free Practice. I mean, did the team change for you or was it all just down to the to the tyre compound?

Hiyu Yamakoshi: Obviously, the problem was really big, but just the one issue. For me, I felt already quite nice in the Free Practice. Initially, the car felt good. We had one big issue and the team found the problem. And then they did something and from the first push, I already felt, oh, this car is much better than FP. And then that gave me have nice confidence that I can push like what I want.

FIA Formula 3: How did you feel about that incident? Do you think you had a chance at pole today?

Yamakoshi: It's kind of lucky and kind of maybe unlucky. I think there's potential for pole position from my car but I will never know as we didn't finish the whole thing properly. So I think we have potential to fight in the race.

FIA Formula 3: And looking at where you're starting from for Sunday, what do you think is possible from P3?

Yamakoshi: I started from P3 in Barcelona, competing in the start and chasing P1. I think ideal case for the Feature race in the Sunday as well. But with that time, I couldn't get P1. So I hope I can get him on Sunday.

FIA Formula 3: Thank you very much for that. Appreciate it.