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F3 - Post-Race 3 Press Conference

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01.08.21

F3 - 2021 season/ Round 4 in Budapest - Race 3 Press conference transcript

Thoughts from Hauger, Leclerc, and Doohan

FIA Formula 3: Many congratulations to the top three finishers in Race 3 of the FIA Formula 3 Championship here at the Hungaroring, in third place Jack Doohan for Trident, in second place Arthur Leclerc for PREMA and taking his third win of the season also for PREMA, Dennis Hauger. Dennis, what a brilliant race by you another brilliant haul of points for the Championship as well. Sum up how significant this result is for your campaign?

Dennis Hauger: Really important, I knew on wet we were quite strong. I was wondering how it was going to be in the end because the track was drying up so quickly but I think we managed well in the middle to keep the tyres. It's really important points for the Championship, we've got a bit of a gap now but we have to keep pushing until the end. Overall a really good weekend and I'm really happy with it.

FIA Formula 3: Talk us through the pass for the lead on Lap 9 around the outside of Turn 2, how long had you been planning that move?

Hauger: I tried to make a move a few laps earlier and I felt I had the pace for it, I found a few lines that worked well for me that helped me to attack bit and nearly get through. I knew I was quite strong through the outside of Turn 2 normally, and there was grip there so I tried to open a bit of a gap on the outside to be able to brake later and go around. I mean, from then on it was sort of managing and trying to create a small gap obviously with the track drying every lap it wasn't easy. The move I was really happy with, obviously, and winning is a good feeling.

FIA Formula 3: A nice, clean battle between teammates as well?

Hauger: Yeah it was really nice and obviously in these conditions where it's drying up it's not easy to stay on track and stay fair. So yeah, really, really good battles.

FIA Formula 3: Arthur let's come to you now. You started on pole, you finished second how do you sum up your morning's work?

Arthur Leclerc: It was a bit of a difficult weekend overall, I'm happy with the pole because we did a good job on Friday but today the conditions were really tricky, unfortunately. So yeah, it was a bit more difficult, I still struggled to understand these wet tyres properly so I still need to work on this type of tyre. Dennis was a bit faster in the middle and was able to win the race, but overall we showed that we have really good speed and we need to keep it up, we'll keep working and let's see on the next race.

FIA Formula 3: Tell us about the conditions early on how tough was it for you as the lead car?

Leclerc: It's always a little bit difficult because when you have someone in front who knows what he is doing you can test other things, it's a little bit easier. I was struggling to find the correct line especially in T2, as you can see, but it's something I need to learn. If next time I come to Budapest I know what line is working on the wets. We take the experience step by step.

FIA Formula 3: And can we get your take on the battle with your teammate for lead?

Leclerc: Yeah I tried to defend the inside, I didn't really plan for him going on the outside I didn't know there was that much grip, to be honest. As soon as I was behind him the lap after I could see the grip was so much better on the outside, it's something I had to explore a bit more at the beginning of the race which I didn't so it's about taking the experience. I am learning from this and next time I will try a bit more on other lines to keep it in front.

FIA Formula 3: Well done Arthur, and coming to you. A fourth podium for you, had the race not finished behind the safety car do you think you could have challenged Arthur for P2?

Jack Doohan: It's always difficult to say, I definitely thought there was going to be more degradation. Well, I thought they were going to have more deg. I was managing the tyres quite well and not stressing it and I knew when it was drying out that that was when it was going to become worse. Dennis and Arthur could stress and abuse the tyre more, and there was no real drop-off. I was expecting there to be more, so I tried to play the long game, and before the Safety Car, there were two or three laps to go so I was going to give it my all depending on whether or not I had the pace to get past. That's another story. I did the best job I could, we had a good package, good enough for where we finished, but we just need to work harder to challenge the two cars ahead.

FIA Formula 3: Jack you had a couple of tough races in the dry, how much of a relief was it to find good pace in the wet today?

Doohan: I was looking forward to the dry this morning because we found a huge element that was going to enable us to find what we've been missing in the last two rounds. Although I qualified third and had good pace in Qualifying there's still more that we've found that could enable us to have a lot more pace. So I was looking forward to that because I felt quite confident about the challenge for the win, and to have the pace back when I needed it but I wasn't upset about it raining either. Good points today, disappointing yesterday, but hopefully it should be onwards from here.

FIA Formula 3: You mentioned the word points, you're now up to second in the Championship. How hard is it going to be to catch Dennis in the remaining rounds?

Doohan: Obviously it's going to be tough, but I just need to focus on myself, work with the team, see what the best possible scenarios are for the remaining three rounds. The next two rounds I think should be quite strong for us, and then it's kind of up in the air for Austin so we'll just try and prepare ourselves as well as possible, focus on ourselves, and hopefully then with a bit of luck, we can fight back. But no, Dennis has been doing an exceptional job all year, and unfortunately, a bit of bad luck has hindered some big points this year, but that's how it goes.

FIA Formula 3: Well done to all three of you.