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Hungary GP: Thursday Press Conference

NEWS STORY
23/07/2009

Robert, you organised a karting event last weekend. Can you tell us about it and how it relates to Formula One?
Robert Kubica: To say I organised it, is a bit too much. We did have some idea with Timo (Glock) to go karting for a very long time but it never worked out for one year. Then finally we fixed a date. We knew that maybe Michael (Schumacher) was coming, so we asked some drivers and they joined us, so we had good fun, a good days of driving. Also a bit of competition because once you have drivers, even if it is not an F1 track, but karting there is always competition. There is always someone who wants to be the fastest but overall I think it was good fun. There were drivers which drove for the first time in karts, so they really saw it is a hard job and it was good fun.

So who was there and who was fastest?
RK: Michael was the fastest. (Vitantonio) Liuzzi was also very good.

And you?
RK: I was not bad. It depends what you were testing. We were just testing with the chassis as we are preparing for a World Championship which will take place in September. I have also my driver down there and he was the fastest apart from F1 drivers. We tried testing, just preparing materials and chassis for the world championship.

Let's come to this race.
RK: Back to reality.

You were there two days racing.
RK: Yes, two days.

You made your debut here a couple of years ago and you were in the points until you were disqualified. This is going to be your 50th grand prix. What are your feelings about this circuit?
RK: Well, I mean as you mention, I made my debut here, so it is kind of a circuit which I will remember for very long. Always fantastic atmosphere due to Polish fans which are always coming here with good atmosphere, good cheering. Unfortunately, I have never scored good results here. I did last year and the year before a points' finish but never 100 per cent what we could do. For this year I think we have the smallest chance to make a good result from the Hungarian Grand Prix, so I hope to make a good race.

Your best is fourth in qualifying and fifth in the race. It is a circuit which a lot of people really enjoy though, isn't it?
RK: Yeah, I think this is the kind of track which you either like or you don't like it at all. I am a driver who likes it. It is a bit different. It is true that it is a bit too small maybe for an F1 car but it is very challenging physically and also for the cars. You have to find the best balance that is possible. It is always very demanding on the tyres, so there are many things which you have to take care of.

Jaime, welcome to Formula One. How do you want your name pronounced, throughout the world?
Jaime Alguersuari: I know it's a little bit tough. My name is 'Heimi Al-gay-shuari'.

What are your feelings about coming into Formula One at this stage, half way through the season? How much Formula One mileage have you done already?
JA: To be honest, I have done just two aero tests. For sure I am really happy to be here, to learn the car and learn a new situation but at the end it is just another car for me, another car in my racing career, in my life. I am very happy to drive and I am looking forward to it.

It might be suspected that because you haven't done GP2 you don't know the circuits. What is the situation?
JA: I know this track. I raced here before. I am quite lucky for that. I know more or less all of the tracks in Europe but obviously the overseas ones I don't know them really, like Japan, Singapore and Brazil, so for sure it is a good year to learn the tracks in Formula One as well.

What has been the reaction in Spain?
JA: I think very good. They wanted another Spanish driver, so they have it now.

Kimi, let's go forward to next weekend and Rally Finland. What are your thoughts about that?
Kimi Raikkonen: I think it will be a completely different thing. I have done a few rallies but it is like club races compared to the Finland Rally. I will just go there and have fun and hopefully we are going to make it to the end and that would be nice.

There are quite a few modifications to the car this weekend. What are you expecting from them?
KR: Yeah, I mean my car has some new stuff. A new front wing from what we had in the last race but unfortunately we only had one part. We have some new floor parts and a rear wing. Hopefully it will help us. This circuit is more like Monaco and the car seemed to be working pretty well there, so hopefully we can have a bit better weekend than the last one.

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