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European GP: Thursday Press Conference

NEWS STORY
19/07/2007

Christian, you drove both the Honda and the Spyker at the Spa test; what was that like?
Christian Klien: Well, it was obviously a great experience to drive two different cars on one track in one test. Spyker invited me for a test just to get to know the team, get to know the car as well. Obviously testing is very restricted this year for a test driver, so it's important to get as much time in the car as possible so we sat down with Honda and asked them if there was a possibility to test with Spyker and they agreed, they were very supportive, and they loaned me to Spyker for this test day. It was a very interesting test and obviously there's maybe a chance to do some racing for them this year.

What chances are there of a race drive next year?
CK: It's all very open. I've done the test with Spyker, so it's down to them if they give me the chance to race for them this year. With Honda, we have to see. You will know in one hour.

Ralf, again, testing looked pretty good at Spa, fourth fastest on the first two days.
Ralf Schumacher: We seem to pick up pace, especially on those kind of circuits. Spa is another quick circuit which seems to suit our car. Obviously we have to wait and see how it is here but it shouldn't be too bad either.

Your feelings about this race? You've qualified second twice here, you've won here as well, three times fourth in the race.
RS: Well, it would be great to repeat it, but this year it's a little bit difficult, I guess. But we are trying hard. For us, the priority is top ten in qualifying with both cars and then we see from there.

But you feel this sort of circuit doesn't really suit your car as well as one with longer, faster corners.
RS: That I don't know because I haven't been here with the car. We will find out during the weekend, but having said that, why should it be worse? We know which direction we have to go to make it work so I hope we will do so here as well.

When is that coming, when is that likely?
RS: We know what we have to do with the car, it exists. In the last few races we've changed a few things and that should apply for this circuit as well. We will find out tomorrow.

Adrian, one year on since you made your Formula One debut here at this circuit, a bit more than a year in fact. What are your feelings about your Formula One career so far?
Adrian Sutil: Yes, it's nice to be back here. Last year it was my first time in the car here on the Friday and it was a great day. This time it's as a race driver, my first home Grand Prix. It's a really nice feeling and I really look forward to the race weekend.

But you have a new team-mate and probably a new team-mate at the next race as well. How disruptive is that for you?
AS: It doesn't matter for me really. I'm concentrating on my own things. It's nice to have Markus next to me, he's a really, really nice guy. I like him and I think we will have a good weekend. But I don't really care about my team-mates. I know what my job is and I try to do it as well as possible.

Is the car difficult to drive? We've seen a few excursions over the last few races.
AS: For sure it's difficult to drive but normally in qualifying we have a good balance and I'm quite happy with the car. We had some technical problems in the last races. Hopefully they are fixed for this race and for the following races as well. But I'm confident. I'm always confident, and for our possibilities at the moment I'm quite happy with the car.

Nico, we could say that you've had a lot of bad luck. Is it bad luck or is it something that could have been avoided? It seems to have continued and continued.
Nico Rosberg: Yeah, sometimes it just didn't go the right way as it sometimes is in races and at other times, it was just not good enough on the reliability front and that's it. So I don't think bad luck, as such, really counts. The results this year, points-wise, could have gone a lot better but that's just the way it is and I hope that in the coming races I can break loose and score some points, that would be great.

Are developments coming along OK at a reasonable rate?
NR: Yeah, definitely. The factory is working very hard, and we've had a whole new (range of) aero parts and everything coming through lately. We're definitely making progress but so is everybody else and I think we've kind of stayed where we were, more or less, so it's really important to try and get a few bits and pieces coming again in the near future to try and break into the top eight again.

What about this race?
NR: I think this track is good for our car, similar to Monaco or places like that. It's going to suit our car a little bit better, I think, so there's a better chance here for us to get some points than compared to Silverstone, for instance.

Lewis, how are you? I hear you've had some 'flu.
Lewis Hamilton: Yeah, I'm OK, I've just not had a great week. I was a bit ill at the beginning of the week but I'm feeling a lot better now.

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