GP2 Series: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the press conference for today's qualifying session here in Silverstone: joining us today are poleman Norman Nato from Racing Engineering, in second place we have Pierre Gasly from PREMA Racing, and in third we have Nicholas Latifi from DAMS. Norman, congratulations on your first pole, but it was very close there: talk us through what happened. Norman Nato: Yes, it was very close (laughs)! On the first set I was P2 behind Pierre, their speed was much quicker than us, and I didn't put my lap together the way I wanted. On the second set we didn't touch the car: I just said to my engineer I wanted to improve the lap just with my driving because I knew were to improve, and this was what I did. We were a bit lucky with what happened with the red flag, but in motorsport you need luck sometimes: I've been unlucky in Monaco, today I'm lucky, and it's good for me.
GP2 Series: We were wondering about the track conditions given the red flags: were you surprised that you were able to improve your lap late in the session? Norman: It was quite a surprise to be honest: as I said my first lap wasn't perfect, but it was straight after Formula One so the grip was good with new tyres, and on the first set I was P2. It was quite a surprise to improve so much on the second set, but that's why it's so important to focus all the time, because you can drop from P2 to P8 if you don't focus on the lap, so it is very important.
GP2 Series: It's your first ever pole, and on your birthday: that's a nice little present! Norman: Yeah, what to say (laughs)! It's a good present, and we'll see what we can do tomorrow: normally we have a good car in the race as well, so it depends on the weather but we will work tonight to have the best car, and to put everything together to have the best race.
GP2 Series: Congratulations, and happy birthday! (Laughs) Norman: Thank you!
GP2 Series: Pierre, congratulations on P2: I'm sure you were hoping for more, but can you find satisfaction in your job today? Pierre Gasly: Yes but first of all happy birthday to Norman (laughs)! I felt that we could have got more today: the first set was good, and I felt good with the car and we were P1 but I felt we could improve in a few places. On the second set I was improving my first sector, and also in a few corners in the second one, but we got the red flag just before the end of the second sector and that was it. We stopped, I tried for another lap after the restart, but the tyres were of course a bit more used so it was a bit more tricky, and I could feel I was fight a bit more with the car. I tried everything, and we managed to improve a bit but not enough. But in the end it's a front row, which is pretty good, and we'll fight for the race tomorrow.
GP2 Series: We were going to ask about that lap on your second set: it looked like you were improving, so do you think you could have claimed pole but for the red flag? Pierre: We looked on the data and I was four tenths up before I had to slow at Turn 13: we'll never know what could have happened in the last sector, but with at least an equal sector [to the previous lap] we could have at least fought for it, which would have been nice, but it's not the kind of thing you can control. Today we did our best, and I think we can be happy: sometimes it goes your way, sometimes not, and today it was a bit in the middle.
GP2 Series: You had the pace this morning, you probably had the pace in qualy, and you start from the front row: could we finally see you claim that long awaited win tomorrow? Pierre: I think, looking at the last few races in GP2 Series, even when you start P15 you can still expect to fight for the podium and the win: it's quite impressive! So definitely we are in a position to fight for the win, and many drivers will be fighting for the lead and the win, so we will do our best and let's see what will happen tomorrow.
GP2 Series: Good job today. Nicholas, congratulations on P3: it looked to come a little out of nowhere at the end of the session, but how did it look from your seat today? Nicholas Latifi: It's exactly as your said it (laughs)! For me it was quite a good lap to put together, especially given where I finished in practice where I was a bit lost honestly, and felt I was pushing quite hard but obviously with a 1.3 second gap! We did a lot of analysis after practice, and it really just came down to me putting together a really good lap: it was a big margin to close down in the one or two laps you get in GP2, but that's one of the things that make GP2 so tough, making the jump from practice to qualy. Fortunately I did it at this race: at others I haven't managed to put it together, so I'm really happy with this. The car was really good today, and going from P16 to P3 obviously you've got to have confidence in the car to do it, so I'm really happy with the lap.
GP2 Series: We saw a lot of Alex and he looked quick, but seemed to struggle to put the whole lap together: do you have any sense yet of what was the difference between you? Nicholas: I haven't looked at the comparative data yet, so I can't really say what went wrong with his session...
GP2 Series: Were there any issues with tyres for either of you today? Nicholas: From my side I think it's similar to what the others said about the red flag: obviously I had set my lap so, like Norman, I was a bit lucky to have crossed the line, but in motorsport you need luck to get results like this. After the red flag most people tried again, but most of the life of the tyres were spent on the first lap: I did an extra sector but wasn't able to improve.
GP2 Series: P3 is a good place to start a race, and we guess you will be looking for a good result after a couple of tough races... Nicholas: Yes, for sure after starting much further back over the last few races I want to finish at the front (laughs)! I've never done a race here in GP2, so managing the tyres will be something different for me - normally here it's just flat out! - but the team has good data from previous races and I'll go over that tonight, and hopefully we can finish on the podium.
