FIA Formula 2: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the press conference for today’s qualifying session here in Spielberg: joining us are polesitter Charles Leclerc from PREMA Racing, in second we have Sergio Sette Camara from MP Motorsport, and in third we have Antonio Fuoco also from PREMA Racing. Charles, congratulations. Your fifth pole position in a row. Was that the toughest one so far?

Charles Leclerc: Yeah definitely. We expected the gap to be a bit smaller because it is a short track. We pushed like crazy, but in the end I think that Sergio was on a very good lap before he stopped. So it would have been very close there. But I am very happy: fifth pole in a row, fifth qualifying and we grabbed all poles. I think our strong point is definitely qualy. It does not define the results tomorrow however: we need to push and make a good start and a good race tomorrow.

FIA Formula 2: You say you thought the results would be closer. How committed were you in the final sector? Did you think the gap when you crossed the line would be smaller?

Charles: Yes definitely because the track is very small and Sergio – everyone actually was quite close on the first set of tyres. I did my best on the second set and managed a good lap.

FIA Formula 2: Congratulations. Sergio moving on to you: it’s your best qualifying result of the year by far. Did you think you had done pole position today?

Sergio Sette Camara: On my first lap, I knew I still had to improve on my second lap. Here, the tyre degradation didn’t seem too high. I did the first lap and saw that I was provisionally on pole but I knew I could improve a lot on sector 3 especially. Then I started my pole and did purple, then green, but on the exit of the left corner, the engine cut a bit and I lost a lot of time at the finished line. I don’t know if it would have been enough for pole anyway because Charles’ lap was very good. But anyway, I am very pleased because as you said this is my best qualifying result so far.

FIA Formula 2: On that final attempt, you stopped at the end. Can you tell us what happened?

Sergio: Actually, I think that happened on my in lap. We finished qualifying a bit earlier…

FIA Formula 2: Congratulations. Antonio, this is your best qualifying result of the year as well. Are you satisfied with third place on the grid when you are 0.04s off second?

Antonio Fuoco: I think for sure we could have done better qualifying especially on the second set. I made a small mistake on Turn 6. I lost some time there. But to be honest, I am quite happy to start from P3 tomorrow. We need to focus on the race and see what we can do.

FIA Formula 2: The results haven’t always followed you in the races so far this season. What will be your approach tomorrow?

Antonio: I think I will have the same approach I have every races. I believe I’ve been a bit unlucky so far also on qualifying. Today, we showed our pace. Maybe we can do something better and hopefully we can show our pace in the race as well tomorrow.

FIA Formula 2: Thank you. Charles, returning to you. The start here will be crucial with the long drag up to Turn 3 and down to Turn 4 now. How difficult will it be to defend your lead there?

Charles: It will be difficult. It was also the case in Baku with the long straight. It will be hard: I need to make a good start and take a good first corner to try and manage to stay in front. If I lose the lead though it’s not a huge disaster: we know our pace in the race is good. It’s a matter of staying calm. The race can be eventful. The weather here is also a bit unpredictable. We will see. We just have to stay calm, take the best start as possible. Our main contender in the championship Oliver [Rowland} is starting from fifth I think. We need to keep it cool: I will try to win, but we won’t take any stupid risks either.