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British GP: Thursday Press Conference

NEWS STORY
05/07/2007

Alex, it's been a few years since you raced here, but you've had a third and a fourth here. What are your thoughts on this circuit?
Alexander Wurz: Yes, it's a nice circuit. I was here testing a few weeks ago and obviously there are some very high speeds here so the first five corners are quite incredible. Turn one, if everything is alright and the wind is coming from the correct direction, is flat out. You arrive in seventh, flat out through the first corner. Then the whole section of Becketts, the first two corners, flat, just one downshift for turn five and you're on Hangar Straight. You haven't even touched the brakes until then. That's quite cool. It's a really a nice circuit.

So far this year you've had some good races, but not necessarily good qualifying. What's been going wrong in qualifying?
AW: Well, if you call it wrong or not good enough, whatever it is, it's a few hundredths, a few tenths here and there and yeah, I have to work on that. As you say, the races are very strong, especially the starts. At every start, I have always overtaken people. I think I'm actually the leader in overtaking manoeuvres on the race track in the 2007 season. But generally I have to work a little bit with the tyres, they are not really designed for my driving style, if you want to call it this. It was much better last year with the different constructions but that's something you have to dial your brain into, your processing into and I don't see any reason why that should cause me sleepless nights. But the racing is nice for sure.

Anthony, it's been some time since you raced here, I think.
Anthony Davidson: Yeah, it's actually a circuit I don't really know that well, funnily enough, even though it's my home track. I know places like Jerez and Barcelona much better actually. It's a bit strange, but it's a fantastic circuit, a very pure track, very high speed as Alex was describing. The first sector, especially, is where you can really make or break your lap. You need a very good balance round here in the car too to get a good lap.

When did you last race here?
AD: 2001 in Formula Three.

But obviously you've tested here.
AD: Yeah, I have but obviously testing is pretty limited here as well, on the Formula One calendar. We even missed the last test, we were down in Jerez instead. But I'm looking forward to getting out there tomorrow and driving around a high speed circuit again.

And racing in front of your home crowd?
AD: Absolutely. I had the experience of that in 2004 and last year on the Fridays only, and it does create a really nice atmosphere for being a British driver here.

Rubens, a winner here and two pole positions as well. Could be wet this weekend. Is that going to be good for you?
Rubens Barrichello: I think so. It's a track that I think is probably the best that I enjoy. I enjoy coming to it more than others, wet or dry. I do enjoy coming here. When I used to test in Formula Three I didn't know I enjoyed it that much, but I really do in a Formula One car.

Looking back at that win, a lot of overtaking manoeuvres.
RB: People consider that to be my best race. It was really nice to be able to overtake and the car was perfect that weekend, with the right choice of tyres and everything. Hopefully I'm going to have some sort of a repeat this weekend.

Do you think it's going to hurt you that you didn't test here, whereas everybody else did apart from yourselves and Super Aguri?
RB: The first practice, maybe, but Silverstone is a track just like Barcelona, for example, where you can test the week before and then when you go back there it's all different, they clean the track and the wind is different and it might have rained. So the first practice, if it's the same people might have an advantage but I think by the second… we have been here quite often, so it's not a problem.

Felipe, best of fourth in qualifying here and fifth last year but you've finished all your races here; what are your feelings about the circuit?
Felipe Massa: Hopefully it will be better this time. I think last year, if I remember well, in testing we had a good car here. In the race, maybe we brought the wrong tyres, and our car was not one hundred percent competitive here last year. But this year our car is working very well on this kind of track and also the tyres are the same for everybody, so I am really looking forward to having a great weekend here. I always finish the race here. I've never had a fantastic position, especially the last year, but I really hope that we can really fight for first position here.

After last weekend, Ron Dennis said McLaren ran relatively conservatively and that maybe they flattered Ferrari, made them look better than they were. What do you think about that statement?
FM: We were not conservative and we won and that's what counts. Maybe in some races we were not very strong and they won and now they have more points than us, so we need to be in front of them most of the race, so that's it. It doesn't matter what you say, it matters what you do on the track and that's why we're working so hard to try to improve the car every day, and everything.

And you need to perhaps try and run less conservatively than them?
FM: In a championship like this, you cannot be conservative, in whatever race. Sometimes you can make mistakes by not being conservative but that's the way it is.

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