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Belgian GP: Thursday Press Conference

NEWS STORY
14/09/2007

Adrian, how did you feel about the performance of the B-spec Spyker at last weekend's Grand Prix, the first time you'd run it?
Adrian Sutil: Well, the last race was not our best race, to be honest. I was expecting more but we had to take all the downforce off and the car was not easy to drive, for sure. I think it will be better here, when we have our normal set-up and we have our proper downforce. I think it should be a little bit better than Monza but we can't expect too much, because all the teams are developing and trying to improve their cars, so it's hard to catch up with them. If we find half a second, it will be very good but even then, if we can pass some cars it will be difficult, because the gap to Toro Rosso was one second in Monza. But I'm always positive, so I give my best and hope for the best. We will, for sure, be a little bit more competitive.

Did you test here?
AS: Yes, I tested here. One day. I really liked the circuit and the car seemed to be alright but it was the A-spec car, so it will again be a new experience here.

What are your feelings about your first year in Formula One?
AS: Oh yes, very nice. It's the best job I can have. I really enjoy every race, it's very nice to be in Formula One. It's hard work, different to all the other categories, but it's perfect, I really feel well.

But do you feel you've accomplished what you wanted to?
AS: Yeah. I knew it would be a difficult year with Spyker, with a new team. It's always difficult and I knew the performance of the car already, so I couldn't expect that much but I think I can be quite happy. I'm still learning and I'm feeling good, I'm feeling well-prepared every race now.

Robert, I believe you've been here before in Formula Three and Formula Renault. What are your feelings about the changes to the circuit?
Robert Kubica: Yeah, I have been racing here a few times, in Formula Three last time in 2003. I prefer the last version, so the old version of the chicane but of course, this is how it is and still I enjoy Spa very much, especially driving a Formula One car here in July when we were testing here. The three days of testing went pretty good.

It's quite interesting that of all the tests so far this year, this is the only one where there's a big gap between the test and the race itself, so the car could be quite substantially different.
RK: Yeah. I think more or less it's the same for everybody. We have improved the car a bit since last time we were here, but of course this is a different aerodynamic configuration track compared to Hungary, for example, and Monza. We will see on Friday. We still have a bit of time to set up the car and tune it and we hope we will be at the same competitive level as in Monza.

I read some quotes from you about traction control and it was almost as though you were in favour of keeping it rather than having it banned. Is that the case?
RK: Someone asked me how I would like Formula One. I said I would like slick tyres back, V10 engines and everything that would make the car quicker. I don't care whether traction control is on the cars or off. We have already done some testing with this year's car with these systems and in the end, after one day, I think everybody will adapt themselves and the set-up work and in the end, everything will stay the same.

Nico, some good performances race-wise. Do you think you're getting closer to BMW?
Nico Rosberg: I'm not sure. I think more than getting closer to BMW, we have really established ourselves as top of the mid-pack in the last few races, which really is fantastic because everybody was saying that Williams was probably going to drop off in performance towards the end, as the others pick up their development pace and everything, and in fact we've been the ones developing quickest of all, pace-wise, so it's been very reassuring and very nice to see and it's been great to have some good results lately.

And is that going to continue in the last four races?
NR: I hope so. I'm not sure. We're going to have to see. We didn't have a particularly great test here, but then again, we've surprised ourselves lately, also in Istanbul, so I can probably come here looking at it quite positively.

How do you feel about the future, which presumably you are going to be part of? Where can they be next year?
NR: Well, I think it's very important for the team to do a good step forward and I'm very confident from that point of view because they've been working very well in the factory, they've achieved some very good initial results with the new car and everything, so I'm quite confident that we can really make a good step forward next year.

And you're still with them next year?
NR: Yes, definitely.

Fernando, any comment to make on what's happening in Paris today?
Fernando Alonso: No.

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