We have the pace and I’m confident to fight through the field from P8 tomorrow: Jehan

FIA Formula 3 post-race Press Conference transcript:

Thoughts from Daruvala, Shwartzman and Piquet, the top-3 today:

FIA Formula 3: Hello and welcome to today’s FIA Formula 3 press conference following Race 1 at Paul Ricard. Joining us today, are the top three finishers from the opening race, in third place Pedro Piquet from Trident, in second place Robert Shwartzman of PREMA Racing, and your race winner Jehan Daruvala of PREMA Racing. Jehan, back-to-back wins for you now in Formula 3 and a really good charge to the front after reeling in Jake Hughes at the beginning. Can you just talk us through that fight with Jake?

Jehan Daruvala: Like I said yesterday, I was pretty happy with how the weekend started. The car’s been good all weekend, so the main aim was to get off the line which actually didn’t go to plan. I lost a position to Pedro and I think I almost hit the back of him in Turn 1, I just missed him so that was lucky. After that it was all about managing the race. The car felt pretty good from the start. I didn’t have to over-push, I just tried to stay in the DRS of Pedro because he was not in the DRS of Jake [Hughes]. That was a big help for me. I got the pass done straight away on the first lap with DRS so I could go hunting for Jake. To be fair in the first few laps I was just chipping away a bit, a couple of tenths here and there, but wasn’t really making too many inroads. I just tried to keep the same pace and not try to push too much and I could see that started to show a little bit, especially in Sector 3. I was quite strong there compared to him. I just tried to stay there in Sector 1 and 2, and when the gap got to 1.4 seconds I knew that if I did a good Sector 3 I could get within the DRS. That’s what happened and I managed to do him before the last corner and then have the DRS on the main straight as well so that went to plan. I tried to break the DRS as fast as possible and after that the car was as good as it could be and I was just managing the pace until the end of the race.

FIA Formula 3: We saw lots of drivers keeping within that DRS range and a lot of wheel-to-wheel fights, but you were one of the few who seemed able to pull clear quite quickly. Did you feel the pressure easing as you pulled further and further ahead?

Jehan: I think throughout the weekend so far I’ve been really strong in Sector 3, so I knew that if I just held him off until the chicane and really push for one final sector then I break the DRS. That went to plan, and after I was in the lead by about two seconds I was just trying to manage the gap just in case of a safety car or something, I still had tyres to go for the end.

FIA Formula 3: Congratulations. Robert moving on to you. A decent recovery after a bit of a sluggish start. Could you talk us through your race?

Robert Shwartzman: The start didn’t go well for me, I nearly stalled. It was a really risky moment there because I was really, really close to stalling. At the last second I managed to pull back the clutch and at least move from the position. I lost a lot of places, I’m not sure how many, but I think I was in about eighth or ninth position at that time. There was a big mess and fight coming into Turn 1 and 2 and there was quite a close situation, I don’t remember which driver, but I managed to survive that and gain a few positions in the first lap. I think was P6 if I’m not wrong. Then I caught [Bent] Viscaal, he made a mistake in Turn 5 so I used that to my advantage and overtook straight away so as not to lose any time. Basically then I was trying to catch up with the boys in front. I caught Pedro who was fighting with Marcus [Armstrong] and then at some point I got past Pedro and was behind Marcus, but at that time I started to feel the degradation was coming because I think I’d pushed a bit too much at the beginning. After that I was struggling quite a lot with the tyres and it was a really tough race, but I’m happy because we did quite a good recovery after. We had a good battle between me, Jake and Marcus. Unfortunately they collided right in front of me and then in the last laps Pedro was quite close to me, but I think we were all sliding quite a lot because of tyre degradation. I knew that he could make a move but I would have defended it and try to protect my position. At the end of the day we finished where we did. I’m quite happy, after a really bad start I had quite a good recovery, and generally I’m really happy with how the team worked. They gave me some good advice over the radio and also, even though I made a mistake with the tyre management, the car was still really good. That was really important.

FIA Formula 3: That battle with Jake and Marcus was really exciting, and as you said the two collided. What was your reaction when you saw that happen? Did you feel quite lucky to have avoided being caught up in that?

Robert: Yeah. I was really surprised because when I exited Turn 6 they were not really close to me. The DRS really works here a lot, and basically I started to defend from Jake because I saw him in my left mirror, so I started to protect my position. Then I saw Marcus round the outside so they basically both came past me side-by-side. Then they both braked really late because they knew I was there as well. I knew that three cars would not fit in that corner so I backed off to try to and regain the position later. Then I saw Jake locking up and I knew something was going to happen. When I saw them collide I just backed off, waited, got past them and that’s it.

FIA Formula 3: Well done on your result. Pedro moving on to you now. Really quick start and very far up the order throughout the race. Could you talk us through your race today?

Pedro Piquet: I had a really good start. We were P2 in the beginning, but we were struggling a bit to find the pace. The first few laps I was a bit slow. I tried to fight Jehan, but after that I knew that if I’d tried to defend from everybody I would have finished my tyres. I knew Robert was close, he was in DRS range, so I knew he was going to be a test. After he passed me the car started to improve a bit. I had really good pace throughout the middle of the race, but unfortunately there was always a train of cars and a car with DRS in front of me so it was hard to do something. I tried to do a bit of tyre saving in the middle when I saw all the guys fighting. After Jake and Marcus crashed I tried to follow Robert but the tyres were finished. From my view it was a good race. We were a bit down on the performance level to them, but we’ll work hard to improve the car for the next race and the next event.

FIA Formula 3: You were running fifth before the clash between Marcus and Jake, to obviously then rise up on to the podium. What was your reaction when you saw that unfolding ahead of you?

Pedro: It’s not nice for them. You never want to destroy someone’s race but of course you gain positions in the end. If it happens and it helps you it’s better [laughs]. I saw them spinning, braked early, and just tried to avoid them because I knew that maybe a car was going to have spun in the middle of the chicane. After that [Jüri] Vips was quite fast as well. I think he did the whole race in open air, which helps a lot because when you drive behind someone it’s much worse at the end of the race. You get a lot of dirty air. On the last lap I had to do some defending but in the end it was a pretty decent result.

FIA Formula 3: Well done. Jehan moving back on to you now. We’ve seen lots of fights through the field so far this weekend, Robert proving that. Starting eighth tomorrow on the reverse grid, how are you feeling about your chances of fighting your way up the order?

Jehan: I think the main thing is to get through the first lap and not to do anything stupid. If I have the same pace as today then I’m pretty confident that I can fight through the field, but I expect all the guys in the top eight still to be pretty quick. It’s not going to be easy but like I said, the main thing is to have a clean first lap and then I think if I have good pace it will be a good race just to have some fun as well. Like Pedro said it helped having clean air today so I could manage my tyres quite easily, but if you’re fighting through the field like Robert had to you get to a stage where you run out of tyres. I expect to have good pace but also not for it to be too easy.