Istanbul - Qualifying press conference

GP2 Series: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the first press conference of the session, for today’s qualifying session here in Istanbul. Joining us today we have the poleman Romain Grosjean from Dams, in second place we have Sam Bird from iSport, and in third place we have Luca Filippi from Super Nova. Starting with you Romain, congratulations on picking up where you left off in the Asia Series: happy with your day’s work today?

Romain Grosjean: Oh yes, it was a good day! We had a bit of rain this morning to put more suspense into the qualifying session [laughs] but the team is doing a very good job, we have a good base set up, and we could make it work here for the qualy. This session was quite difficult because we had a lot of yellow flags and slow cars in between the laps, but it was a good session, even if I couldn’t improve with the second set!

GP2 Series: How hard was it to go out with no running on the dry tyres after a wet session this morning?

Romain: Well here we all have some experience of GP2 [indicates to the other drivers], and I think in these conditions it tells quite a lot, although it’s a long time since I’ve been here: 2009 I think, and some braking points have changed but I have some good experience with the GP2 car, and after the first lap you know more or less where you can gain some time and when you’re on the limits.

GP2 Series: It seems to have all come back to you quite well! What will this experience mean for tomorrow’s race?

Romain: Tomorrow the aim for sure will be to win the race: we have to work on our race set up but hopefully it will go quite well, we can tune it a little bit with the data we have from qualy, and try to go for the win.

GP2 Series: Sam, P2 with a very strong lap in the middle of a session which was broken up by a number of red flags: how was it for you from inside the car today?

Sam Bird: It wasn’t an easy session by any means: as Romain said there were a lot of yellows, and some red flags as well, and I’ve got to give credit to my engineer because he kept me calm, gave me all the data I needed for the gaps ahead and behind, and I was able to do my lap at the right time. It was supposed to be between me and the man in the middle [Romain] again, like it was in Imola, and Luca’s going to be very strong as well, so I think it’s going to be a very tough race tomorrow, and it’s going to be interesting to see how the tyres hold up for 32 laps around here...

GP2 Series: Any information you picked up to that end from qualy?

Sam: No. Qualy is very different to the race: in qualy you’re pushing to the max to get P1, and in racing now you have to look after more, and it’s who can look after them more will win the race, in my opinion. So the set up will be different, the fuel load will be different, the strategy will be different, so you can’t say from the qualy session whether it will be difficult or not.

GP2 Series: You’ve had a couple of races already this year in the new car and with the new tyres: how different is racing now from racing last year?

Sam: In my opinion quite a lot: from what I’ve experienced it is different. There were races last year where I can remember pushing for the whole race, really giving it everything all the time and being able to push on the exits, get the end out a little bit and not really worrying about it, whereas now everytime I have an oversteer I think ’why did I do that? You’ve just cost yourself a little bit of a lap later on. So it is different.

GP2 Series: You developed a reputation last year for storming through the field after qualifying further back for a variety of reasons: does this put a damper on those sort of charges?

Sam: No, because I hope to be starting from the front! [laughs] I hope to be not doing any of that overtaking!

GP2 Series: It’s worked out so far: front row start tomorrow. What can you do about this guy [Romain]?

Sam: This guy is really good, the guy to his left [Luca] is really good, there is a lot of good guys behind me: it’s going to come down to who looks after the tyres best. There are a lot of factors that will come into it, and I’ve just got to do my job the best I can, get a good start, and who knows? We’ll have to wait and see, but he’s going to be in for a hard race, and I’m sure I am as well.

GP2 Series: Luca, congratulations on P3 today. For a good part of the session it looked like it wasn’t working for you, as you were nowhere at all until you got a good lap: what was happening in the early part of the session for you?

Luca Filippi: As he said, this year is going to be very tricky for qualifying because of the tyres, and because of the marbles we have outside: nobody wants to go offline and leave the [clean] space. This is the same for everybody, and for me on the first set I just couldn’t put a lap together so I decided to pit a little bit earlier and when I had my second chance I was alone, so finally I had a clear lap and I was able to push 100%. I was fastest in the second sector, and this gives me also a good feeling for the race: I think the car is fast and we are fast in sector two, so this means maybe we have a good balance, and I’m looking forward to tomorrow. For me it’s great to be sitting here now because we didn’t even know if I was coming to race here, so I was really motivated: I needed to prove to my team that they made a good choice, and now we have a start and can go from here to make something more.

GP2 Series: You and Sam were very early to come out after the first red flag period, and you both set your fastest laps at that time: is that the difference between a clear track and a busy one?

Luca: Yes, for sure: I used all my three sets, but only on the second one did I have the chance to push properly. With the third one I basically didn’t even push, as there was no point.

GP2 Series: As these guys have said, qualifying is very different to racing: what are your hopes for the race tomorrow?

Luca: They are right! To start from the front is obviously still important, and so I think we can’t pit too early but somebody will do it, so we have to look after them [tyres] because maybe they will be in front of us if they push very hard after the pits. But hopefully starting from our position I hope we can make a little bit of a gap, and make the strategy on them [Sam and Romain] and get ahead. We will see: I love the track, I have been on the podium once, and I feel confident for the race tomorrow.

GP2 Series: One last question Romain, you are one of the few drivers who saved a set of tyres for tomorrow: do you think this will be a big advantage?

Romain: To be honest I didn’t think about it, putting 3 sets on for qualy, so I have one new set for tomorrow, it’s a good point, and we will have to use them in the best way.

GP2 Series: You didn’t think of using them, or...

Romain: I didn’t think of using them! [smiles]

Sam: If I’d gone a tenth quicker he would have thought of using them! [laughs]