FIA Formula 2: Welcome to the press conference following the FIA Formula 2 qualifying session in Spielberg. Joining me are: polesitter George Russell for ART Grand Prix, in second is Lando Norris for Carlin and in third, Sergio Sette Camara for Carlin. George, starting with you – a great lap from you, we saw you setting purple sectors consistently and you improved with every lap. How was the session for you?

George Russell: Yes, it was a great session for us, it was clear after practice that we were very quick. We made a few changes to the car prior to Paul Ricard last week, and it’s really working well for us in a qualifying situation. I went up there onto the supersoft tyre, it was a bit of a challenge for all of us to make that step from practice where we were on the softs, but we were improving with every lap – so I think we were in control of the session.

FIA Formula 2: This is quite a well used track, with lots of events running here and three hours of F1 rubber laid down this afternoon. How were the track conditions for you?

George: They weren’t massively different compared to practice, to be honest, but the biggest difference was the tyres – the supersofts are a very different style of tyre compared to the softs, so that was the biggest difference for me. Obviously, we all had the threat of rain, so that was at the back of everyone’s mind. With the clouds, the track was a little bit cooler as well – but overall it wasn’t massively different.

FIA Formula 2: Coming to you, Lando: this will be your third front row start this season and you were looking very strong in sector 3. What do you like about this circuit?

Lando Norris: I think that the best thing about this circuit is the racing. Qualifying, we’ve obviously got quite a short lap so I think it’s difficult to - well, you need to nail everything in order to be fast. We didn’t quite manage to do that today, although I’m quite happy with P2, especially after practice where we weren’t looking amazing. I think we took a good step forward from practice to quali, and altogether it was a good session.

FIA Formula 2: As you said, this is a very short lap and managing gaps and traffic isn’t easy here. How much time do you spend on the radio timing your run?

Lando: I tend to speak very little on the radio! I don’t speak that much; after the first run, I was on my own at the front but for the second run, we kinda messed up and I came out at the very back – as soon as one person went, everyone went, and we wanted clear air again and to run at the front. That wasn’t possible, so I had to go to the back and I didn’t get the ideal warmup – but it didn’t really hinder us at all, I still managed to improve my time. But yeah, I don’t talk much, I’m usually quite quiet.

FIA Formula 2: On to you, Sergio – this is your best qualifying result of 2018 so far. How was the session from inside the cockpit?

Sergio Sette Camara: Yeah, even though it was our best qualifying session of the season, I’m still not so happy because I think we could have done better. The first run was more or less spent putting things together, but in the second run everyone was ready to go and we weren’t - so the position on the track wasn’t the best. I did a mistake in the first corner of the first lap, and at a track like the Red Bull Ring you need to put it all together in all the corners, and for the second lap I went close to matching George. So, I think we could have done better – George’s lap was really good, so it’s tough to say, but not happy with my lap. I’m happy that I have a good car, and even when everything doesn’t fit 100% we can be up there, which is important for the season and I hope it stays like that.

FIA Formula 2: For tomorrow’s race we’re expecting slightly warmer conditions, does that affect your expectations for the race?

Sergio: It doesn’t change my expectations of a result but it does change my expectations of how the race will go; the colder it is, we can push every lap, but if it gets hot we might have to start thinking about tyre management. So, weather does play a big role, but we’ve got the softest tyres and a high quantity of laps, so it’ll be a challenge. With higher tyre temperatures, it’ll be more of a challenge.

FIA Formula 2: Coming back to you, George, with the changing conditions, what are your expectations?

George: I think it’ll be a tricky race, we saw last year that Charles [Leclerc] was very much in control last year, he came in for supersoft tyres and was still in the lead – and you’d normally expect in that situation for him to pull away into the distance. But he didn’t, and [Nicholas] Latifi had been on the soft compound for a number of laps and was closing in on him. It’ll be an interesting race, and I think a lot of people will be on a similar strategy, but in warmer conditions the tyre deg will be higher – it’s never normally hard on the tyres here but it’s something to look out for.