Welcome one and all for today's Formula Virtual press conference for the all new for 2021 Emirates V-Prix at the Dubai Autodrome! Here today to face the media are Jamie Franklin of JFPT Franklin Honda, William Ingram of Ingram V-Prix, Adam Blocker of FIRST Motorsport and Adrian Arnello of AMR Autosport. Reporter: Today we'll begin with our winner last time out, Jamie. Congratulations on the victory, a huge moment for the team with your first win since your "reset", as well as Addison's first win. Would this be up there as one of Franklin's most special wins in their overall history?
Jamie Franklin: Thank you! It's hard to gauge how special something is when you're comparing emotions. We certainly enjoyed it in the moment, and I was thrilled for Nick after the tough start to the season he's had, but I couldn't possibly begin to tell you where it fits in compared with every other victory. But what I can say is that it's nice to get back to where we belong. R: Speaking of Addison, it was a very late braking move that saw him pass van Snelheid for the lead. Do you know if that's something he practices in the sim or was that move on the spur of the moment? JF: No, it's not something that gets practiced in the simulator. I think, in that moment, he saw an opportunity, had faith in the car and went for it, and it absolutely won him the race. I know Klaas ended up retiring anyway, but you don't know how much extra stress he had to put on the engine because he had to chase. It's a lot easier to manage things when you're controlling it from the front. R: That's not something I would argue against. We'll move on to one of the other big winners in Germany, AMR. Adrian, this season has been a huge step up for AMR, getting your first points since 2017. How is it like for the mechanics to go from being stuck at the back to now having a chance of fighting in the top ten usually? Adrian Arnello: We are elated right now. Absolutely elated. There's been a fair few drinks, put it that way! It's a massive step up for us and one I think we can keep carrying onward and into next season. Just mega. R: We have to mention Meyer after that 4th place. He has stacked up alright versus Schnyder earlier in the season, though he wasn't hitting the same heights. Now, following that fantastic drive in Germany, is he feeling more confident for the rest of the season? AA: His confidence has been up there with Finn's the whole way but its definitely been boosted that bit more now! He's shown a ton of patience up till this point and its paying off. He's got a spring in his step for sure. R: Always good to see a rookie get his breakthrough, thanks Adrian. Will, as far as weird seasons go, Ingram's 021 so far must be up there: a podium and a 5th are your only points finishes. Is there any reason you have identified as to why your results have been so inconsistent? William Ingram: I certainly won't deny it's been an odd one! To be completely honest we're not sure - we've been close to points in other races but James has really delivered huge results when the slightest opportunity has arisen. Of course consistency is good, but so far these performances have us challenging Ocelot, Lucas and AMR who probably have quicker cars. I wouldn't turn down another podium! R: Arguably the most baffling thing of the season so far. Now, onto one of our podium finishers in Germany, Adam. After two tough weekends for the team, Perez drove very well to get a podium last time out. It was his first in over a year - is that kind of result something that will motivate him to push for more of them? Adam Blocker: It was a refreshing result for the whole team including Felix. I don’t think him or the team are ever not pushing for good results with the amount of work everyone puts in, more so it gives everyone a pat on the back and reminds them why we do what we do. R: Ford have been with AMR for a while now, since 2019. They've had their struggles but now have gotten a great result in Germany. As the Ford factory team, do you feel any pride in helping them to that achievement? AB: I, along with most of the paddock, was definitely happy to see them finish so well after having a few seasons of well documented struggles. I’m sure the people at Ford are happy with all they’ve done to help support AMR and help them get back to scoring points. R: There were some rumours in the paddock after Spain about Hoskins' future in FIRST being uncertain. He's had his highs and lows this year, is there a high chance this could be his last year in FV? AB: Will is a valued member of our team. Unfortunately he has had more bad results than he or we would like this year but that doesn’t change our commitment to work together to turn things around in the second half of the season. It’s no secret that we haven’t agreed on terms for next year with Will yet - we haven’t decided on our second driver for 2022 yet. R: That's fair enough, we hope Will has a better second half of the year. Just popping back to you Adrian, for the first time since its inclusion, you find yourself out of Q1. Now that you don't have to go through that session every weekend, is there less pressure on you on Saturdays come quali? AA: Yeah it's definitely dropped the pressure. When you put in a ton of work just to be sent packing Saturday its a bit of a morale hit especially when margins are thin. We think it's given us more to appreciate from the weekend. R: I can imagine how much that helps the mechanics morale. Heading back to the topic of drivers, a question for Will, while Vasquez has driven superbly to get two massive results, Mattson is still yet to get off the mark. He hasn't had the best of luck but, especially when considering his age, is this a worrying sign? WI: Jean has clearly not got the results he's wanted, but at least part of that is down to us. Like most teams we split strategies and at the races where we are quick we've given him the duff strategy. I don't think his age is a factor and I believe we will see the best of Jean soon. R: eV runner up and your reserve driver Zozulya is set to take part in two races this year. He's been impressive in practice sessions so far, what kind of result does he need to put in for him to be considered for a race seat? WI: We've been impressed already with the work Oleks has done on track and in the sim, but there's no way of knowing how well he'd do in a race unless we put him in a race! We know he may be rusty and we don't want to put too much pressure on by stating "points mean the seat is yours". Oleks just needs to do his best and see what happens. We have 4 strong drivers already and they all want the 22 race seat and that hopefully inspires performance. R: I for one am certainly looking forward to Zozulya's return. We also have another question for Jamie, on the other side of your garage, Forini suffered a second engine failure in a row. Do the team investigate engine failure like that or is that something that Honda do on their own. Or is there collaboration between the two? JF: It's something we both do together. It's something we've always done, because it takes that kind of collaborative effort to reach the forefront. It's really unfortunate that he's lost out on more points because of reliability, but the one thing he can take away from it is that we had the pace in both races to score big points, which means that there will be more opportunities in the future. R: Thanks for that Jamie. Alright, as I'm sure you all know, Dubai is set to be the second night race - well, day/night race - we will have after Bahrain, which this race replaces. Very few other tracks on the calendar do have floodlights, if any, but is there any race you would like to see run during the night if it was possible? JF: Nothing particularly comes to mind. I suppose Hockenheim, with its stadium-esque nature would be a good fit and more easily doable in comparison to some other tracks, like Spa for example. But I don't think we need to be thinking about adding too many more, otherwise it takes away from the uniqueness of these venues. AA: Mate, if we did Singapore, I reckon I'd never leave! WI: Good question! If this is hypothetical does that mean I can install floodlights too? Or are we installing headlights on the car? laughs I'm not sure, many would look good. Maybe interlagos for the finale to raise the event even more so. AB: I think having Dubai and Bahrain as night races makes sense for both TV times and trying to avoid some of the crazy heat associated with the Middle East. I am happy with the rest of the races being how they are now. R: Some nice suggestions there, thank you all for your answers. This will be a major stab in the dark - pardon the pun - given the all new track for Formula Virtual, but for traditions, your final question: what are your personal expectations for the race and any predictions for the podium? JF: Again, it's hard to predict anything, and even moreso here. Qualifying is going to be very important again, so we need to focus on having a really good Saturday, and then hope the high temps don't exacerbate the issues we've had with the engine. AA: We think we will be close to the top 10, but it's gonna be a battle to score points. I think Downton and Mathershaw will share podium duties again. WI: laughs Can we expect anything about our results? Points would be nice and I hope to see both cars do well. Difficult to suggest Downton won't be on the podium and Mathershaw have looked good recently so Ruiz too. AB: I’m not sure what to expect with a brand new circuit for FV, but hoping for two cars in the points. R: Righty, that's all that we have time for today. Thank you to our four attendees today for their wonderful answers and be sure to tune in for practice on Friday. Until then, goodbye!
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