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Belgian GP: Thursday Press Conference

NEWS STORY
04/09/2008

Kazuki, this is your first time here in F1. But you have been looking at it on the simulator?
Kazuki Nakajima: Yeah, not very much but I did some work on the simulator. Obviously it is not exactly the same as a real track but I got some feeling of how to drive here in an F1 car.

What is different when you use a simulator?
KN Obviously, I could get some feeling of how the speed is on the track or how the car balance will be or a feeling for the braking point. That is the thing. Obviously for Valencia I think it helped us quite a lot.

You had your best qualifying performance ever in Valencia. What made the difference do you think?
KN Nothing really but fortunately we had a very good car, much more competitive than the last few races. That helped me a lot and for Nico as well. The weekend was quite good for us. For me, especially, apart from the first lap of the race. We had a good feeling. It just gave me a bit more confidence, especially as we had had a difficult few races, so it was very good to come back to a good position.

What is the situation for next year?
KN I have not got any for news for next year but I really hope to stay at Williams. That would be my best choice, I think. I don't think there are many other choices. But I think to stay at Williams is the ideal thing for me.

And there is a possibility of staying at Williams?
KN I hope so.

Is there a good possibility?
KN I think so, but we will have to wait for the team's decision.

Sebastian, it was your best ever qualifying performance as well in Valencia?
Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, it was true.

What made the difference with you?
SV We had a very, very good weekend in Valencia. Everything was running perfect, I think. We had a very good preparation day on Friday and obviously a very good qualifying day on Saturday and also a good race. It is difficult to point out what made the difference. In the end we were trying to do our best. I think the car was very competitive there. I like the circuit and I think that was the key to success.

In the press release Giorgio Ascanelli said 'we must be doing something right, but I don't know what.'
SV As I say we had a perfect weekend. We have been working very hard to get where we are now and now the job is to stay there. I think it will be difficult enough, but if you see the development we have made during the season the whole team has changed. The whole attitude if different now, everybody is extremely motivated and extremely willing to achieve something. It has not always been like that in the past. We have become much stronger than we were and I think that is the key, that is the reason why. There is no secret or anything funny or anything special. We came to Valencia and we had no new parts, we had no track knowledge like everyone, so it was down to pure work I guess.

Do you think the next two circuits will suit you and the car?
SV I think so. Monza is a bit extreme but I think both kinds of circuit, the layout and the characteristics should suit our car. Here we have a lot of fast corners and I think that should be very good for us and Monza obviously there is a lot of straight lines but I think we have an efficient car, so I think we should be in a strong position there as well. But all in all you have to say we have to keep our feet on the ground. In Valencia, as I say, we had the perfect weekend and we were even able to follow a bit the pace of the guys in front and that was very surprising. Obviously, you cannot expect that to happen every race. We have to focus and we have to try to maximise our own potential every time possible. If we can get some points or get close to the top 10 positions, it is very good for us.

Do you remember your race here last year?
SV It was quite short. At first I had a technical problem, then a problem with the steering rack. I was going up to Eau Rouge and the car didn't steer like I wanted it to. It was quite a bit funny. We retired, so it was not the best race for me.

You would prefer to wipe that one?
SV Exactly.

Kimi, you are the winner here for the last three years.
Kimi Raikkonen: Yes, it has been a good place. Hopefully it will be this year also.

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