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French GP: Thursday Press Conference

NEWS STORY
19/06/2008

A question to all of you first of all. Looking back to Canada, your thoughts on that race, what you learned and your feelings after the race.
Kimi Raikkonen: Not much to say, really. I didn't score any points, so it was a bit of a bad weekend but those come sometimes.

Anything to be gained or learned?
KR: No, like I said it was not the weekend we were looking for but that's racing, so hopefully we will do better here.

Felipe Massa: It was a strange race. I think it was a little bit harder to overtake. It was a difficult race and for sure people who stayed in the track was able to score points. That was also my case. I think it was possible to score a little bit more but in circumstances like that I think it was a good race. I remember after two races I was pretty much behind in the championship and now everything is open, so everybody is pretty close, so I think in a way not so negative a race for me.

Lewis Hamilton: I think it was a pretty cool weekend for me really apart from it not ending the way we wanted it to, but that's racing.

Anything to be learned or gained?
LH: Not particularly, no.

Robert, obviously a good one for you.
Robert Kubica: Yeah, winning my first race in my F1 career and the first race win for BMW Sauber with Nick finishing second, so yes it was a great weekend. We had a bit of luck in the end with what was happening at the end of the pit lane. But this is racing. We were a bit unlucky in Monaco or Lewis was a bit more lucky in Monaco. In Canada I was more lucky, so a good weekend all in all.

Looking forward to this weekend. Kimi, you have finished every one of your seven races here and won here last year. You finished second from 13th in 2005, so generally speaking I would have thought a good circuit for you.
KR: Yeah, I quite enjoy it. It's a nice circuit, not probably the easiest to overtake here but overall it is a nice circuit and I enjoy it here. Hopefully we can get a good result. Last year we started to get things going more right here and hopefully it is the same this year.

Felipe, Ferrari have seven wins in 11 years here. Your feelings, as in the last two years you have gone back a place from your grid position. Second last year from pole and third the year before from second.
FM: Yeah, I mean for sure it's not a bad result. Both years in Ferrari I was on the podium. Last year I was on pole and had great pace in the race. I lost a little bit of time in the traffic and lost a position in the second pit stop. The pace itself was very good during the whole race, so I am looking forward to having a competitive race and I think it is a good track for us.

What are your feelings about the track, Lewis? You had a good result from second to third last year but McLaren actually have not won here since 2000.
LH: As you said I have only been here once. My first time here last year I qualified on the front row in second and finished third, so I was quite happy with it. I like this circuit and I think it is quite challenging, very technical. I think this year we have a better chance in terms of the package we have. It is a better package than we had last year, so therefore we should be quicker. It is going to be a challenge this weekend but that's the way it goes.

Robert, obviously fourth on the grid last year and finished fourth as well.
RK: Last year was a good weekend for us. I was coming back after the Canada accident, so fourth was the maximum I could achieve. I enjoy racing here. It is a kind of track which has all kinds of corners with high speed chicanes, low speed chicanes, hairpins and high speed corners. It is a good track and I always like to race here.

Looking back at two weeks ago. What has been the reaction since then and what's been the feeling in Poland?
RK: Well, I think everybody knows the reaction because they could see it. In the end, we came back to Europe, we went testing in Barcelona. I was testing for the first two days, Nick was testing on the last day, trying to improve the car, preparing for the next Grands Prix and in the end it was a very good weekend for us in Canada but we have to keep our feet on the ground and keep working, keep pushing because we know there is a gap to the Ferraris and McLarens and we need to make bigger steps to close it and we will try our best.

Do you think you can challenge Ferrari and McLaren at this race?
RK: Lately it's quite difficult. In Canada, in qualifying I think we were helped a bit by the track conditions, the tarmac was breaking up and the conditions were completely different than in free practice. I managed to do quite a quick, clean lap, and managed to put the car on the front row, but looking at free practice, looking at Monaco, at Turkey, the gap is quite big, so we have to try our best and with a ten place penalty for Lewis we will try to score as many points as possible and we will try to do our best.

Lewis, how does your ten place penalty change your approach to this weekend?
LH: It doesn't really. It's a race, I'm here to win and so I approach it the same. Obviously we want to finish, we want to get as many points as possible. It just makes that harder but it's quite funny, that's the way it goes.

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