This is what the podium drivers said after the first race in Bahrain:
GP2 Series: Stoffel Vandoorne, GP2 race winner. How does that sound?
Stoffel Vandoorne: It sounds pretty good! It was a very good race for us starting from P2. I had a really good start. I took the lead and leading the opening lap was a key I think because it’s always the best position to manage the tyres. I managed the soft in the first laps before the safety car came in. I had a really good re-start and pushed for two more laps than my closest rivals which was quite a risky strategy maybe because the others would come out on new tyres. I probably could have run a bit longer because tyre degradation was okay but I decided to pit and to be sure and safe to keep the lead. We kept it. The team did a really fantastic pit stop and from then on it was just about managing the tyres. Jolyon looked to be pushing a little too hard behind and thus he lost a bit of pace in the end. Julian Leal looked really quick in the end so I think a couple more laps and we would have been in danger… But anyway, that was a good race. We managed to keep the lead and that’s what counts in the end.
GP2 Series: Pitting on Lap 9 was quite early especially since there had been a safety car period that helped you preserve the tyres…
Stoffel: Yeah it’s true. I was thinking to stay maybe a bit longer on the soft tyres, everything looked fine, but with these tyres, you never know: they can be fine on the next lap in the first two sectors and then in the following sector, they can drop off massively. That could mean you losing the race. We just wanted to be safe and keep the lead because we already had made two more laps than the others on the soft tyres. I think we made the right decision.
GP2 Series: Then, you managed a two second gap on average to Jolyon. You looked like you were in complete control. How was it from the car?
Stoffel: It’s all about tyre management so we’re not pushing to the limit. When everybody is driving on the same pace, you need to do a better job than the other person. And I tried to save my tyres better. You have to adapt your driving corner to corner. The car felt good as well and it helped me to do a good job today.
GP2 Series: You’ll be starting from P8 tomorrow on the reverse grid. What are your expectations?
Stoffel: It’s difficult to say. I want to score a maximum amount of points and stay out of trouble. I will need to have a good start again and we should be in a good position during the race again and see where we end up.
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GP2 Series: Julian, P2 today. Awesome job! That’s your best result in a feature race so far. How are you felling?
Julian Leal: I’m feeling really happy. We never thought we could ever finish second today because we were starting from P12. It was amazing from the start to the strategy and the management of the tyres. The car was really good in the race. We had a really good pace. In the end, we managed this result. It’s unbelievable!
GP2 Series: Tell us the story of your race…
Julian: I think we were able to make a very good start. It was pretty crucial. After this, I was pushing after the safety car. I saw some car pitted. My engineer told me to push for two laps. We were able to win a lot of positions. When I went out of the pits, I think I was P4. At the end, I was able to overtake Palmer too because we were able to keep the tyres until the end. Everything was perfect.
GP2 Series: You didn’t suffer from tyre degradation in the later stages of the race compared to Jolyon…
Julian: I think I was only saving the tyres when I was behind him. I was not trying to attack him. I was waiting behind him until the end. I saw that five laps to the end I saw that he was struggling with the rear tyres and I took advantage of this and overtook him.
GP2 Series: Stoffel said that had the race been a couple of laps longer, you could have fought with him for the win.
Julian: Maybe, yes. I think we were catching him quickly. I was maybe 1 second faster than him. In the fast corners, we were very quick. So I don’t know if I could have kept on pushing like this for two more laps (Laughs).
GP2 Series: Talking about tomorrow. You will be starting from P7. What are your objectives?
Julian: I think we’re really happy about today but we have to look forward. Tomorrow is another day. We have to keep pushing like this. There are a lot of points to take tomorrow so we have to do our best like today and see what happens.
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GP2 Series: Jolyon, P3 today. Starting from pole and finishing third must be quite disappointing, but looking at how the race unfolded it’s still a good result. How was the race today?
Jolyon Palmer: Starting from pole, yeah it’s a big disappointment. I was really hoping we could fight for the win. But, from being sixth coming out of the first corner, I would have definitely taken a podium from that point on. We did well with the strategy and the pit stop to get back up to second behind Stoffel. After that I was trying to save the tyres. It was quite a big problem for us today, the rear tyres. So, in the end, Leal came thru and I could do nothing, and I was just holding off Coletti.
GP2 Series: What happened at the start?
Jolyon: Well… We just did not manage really well and then I had too much wheelspin. We need to look into it and make sure I do a good one tomorrow. We have a little bit of work to do on the starts, yes. Also, in the first corner, I managed to get a bit squeezed out with Haryanto and lost another couple of places. It was just a bizarre start.
GP2 Series: Did you adapt your strategy after that?
Jolyon: Well, not really. The strategy changed because Stephane was ahead of me. He had first call on the pit stop. That’s not what we planned, but anyway, I’m happy with what we did. Maybe it was even a better strategy in the end.
GP2 Series: In the end, you’re standing on 21 points. You’ll be starting from P6 tomorrow.
Jolyon: If we can be on the podium again tomorrow, that would be great. There’s no strategy involved other than saving the tyres. Anything can happen during the race. We’ve got some problems to fix regarding the start and the degradation that was a bit too much today.
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