GP2 Barcelona - Race 2 - Press conference

Fabio, race winner on your first GP2 race weekend. How does it feel?

Fabio Leimer: Really good because because I was disappointed in the Asia Series. I was quite happy to be quick straight away in the main Series car and to do a very good first weekend. The qualifying session wasn’t so good. I had some problems to make a fast lap. So I pushed hard to have a good first race and finish in the Top 8. I did it yesterday and I could start today from pole. I manage a good start and in the first few laps I pushed quite hard to manage a good gap between me and Razia. It worked. From the middle of the race until the end I had a few problems with the rear tyres. I was losing grip and I had to fight a little bit to save them. When I saw Razia was closing the gap quickly I tried to push again. I made a small mistake and lost half a second. But then in the next lap I saw that he had problems as well and it was possible to keep him behind me and it was enough to win the race.

There must have been a lot of pressure on you at the start. It was your first pole position in GP2 and then there was the drama with the restart. How did you deal with that?

Fabio: It’s actually quite funny because everybody asks me that. I was quite relaxed: when I am in the race car, I am only concentrating on the race and what I have to do. I don’t care about what is going around. When I am in the car I switch it off and I concentrate only on the race. This is maybe why I am relaxed. When you can start in the front, it is important that you finish in the front.

And in the end Razia was closing in on you. Was there a problem?

Fabio: The car was a little bit too good at the beginning of the race. I was quite fast. After a few laps I had a good gap. I tried to slow down a little bit to try and not make a mistake. I saved my rear tyres. I think it was the right decision because at the end I had still to fight a lot. I think it was the right thing to do.

You are second in the championship going to Monaco .I supposed that is a bit more than you were expecting…

Fabio: Yeah because many people ask me what I expect for this weekend and I say that it would be nice to finish in the first 3. I never said that I could win a race because I know how hard it is. I wanted a podium and in the end I got a win. I am really happy. Now we are looking forward to Monaco. It is a really hard track and I think the people who have already raced there they know the track much better and I think they have a big advantage. I will have to learn the track first in 30 minutes.

Luiz, second toady after a very strong performance. Are you happy with this result today?

Luiz: yeah. Today was very good. I did not have a good start and I couldn’t overtake Leimer. After that, the car was consistent. Fabio did a sprint in the first part of the race and I tried to save my tyres a little bit because I know that it is very tricky here. In the final 10 laps, I pushed harder, but that was not enough. I think we can be happy. We scored good points for a first weekend.

You had a nice little fight with your teammate in the first turn. Talk me through that.

Luiz: Like I said, I did not have a good start. He had a better one. He came by my side. I tried to stay on the track. I braked a bit too late. I locked the tyres. It was a tough moment, but you have to take some risks sometimes to stay in front!

You were closing on Leimer in the end, but you ran out of laps. Do you think there was any chance to get passed him?

Luiz: No. I think Fabio did a great job. He was strong in the beginning. The balance of his car was not so good in the end. Mine was better. But in the end, you just have to stay on the track and just realise that it is too late to overtake. Great job from Fabio.

Pastor, very nice race for you today. Are you happy with your result?

Pastor Maldonado: Yes. I think we gave our maximum this weekend. We were not so good in terms of performance. I think we can improve this season. So for here, we did the maximum. I am happy because the team is pushing very hard. We are leading the teams’ classification for now.

Very nice start. You almost overtook your teammate. Talk me through that…

Pastor: It was a bit dangerous to overtake him in the first corner. I decided to stay third. Then during the race we were very close for most of the laps. Towards the end, I decided to stay in third and take the points rather than taking more risks to try and overtake him again.

It’s true that in the championship, you need to score points as often as possible…

Pastor: yeah. The opportunity to win is coming, I’m sure of that. We’ll see in Monte Carlo. It’s one of my favourites track, of course. The team’s performance is there, we are all working together to gain that extra performance. I think we are very strong this year.

So, in Monaco, can we expect another Maldonado victory?

Pastor: Yeah. I think so. I’ll try again. I know this car from 2008. I think we will do very well there…