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Korean GP: Friday Press Conference

NEWS STORY
22/10/2010

A question to you all. Your impressions of the grand prix so far, Korea, the circuit. What the drivers feel about the circuit. Just a general talk about what you have discovered since you have been here.
Eric Boullier: The infrastructure is quite nice and finished and I think everybody agreed to say that the track layout was a good one. We showed during the session that we can have a good race and I think the drivers like it, so very positive.

Just out of interest what does it mean to Renault that we are here in Korea? Is it big for them?
EB: We have Renault-Samsung co-operation here, so we have quite a lot of guests coming this weekend and definitely it is a good step here for us in terms of marketing.

Stefano Domenicali: For this level of investment we need to be thankful to the organisers for what they are doing. It is impressive. For me it is the first time that I am in Korea and I was impressed by the level of infrastructure coming from Seoul to here by car. This is a sign of a great interaction between the present and the future. A lot has been invested and the most important thing is the economics. With regards to here I think that they did everything to be ready. For sure we have seen today the condition of the track and we knew it would be like that but with the government and organisers spending this kind of money we need to be thankful as it is something amazing. No doubt about it.

Martin Whitmarsh: Well, not much to add. I think the facilities are very impressive. It is a great commitment and I think everyone is happy to be here. A lot of fear and concern was spread in the months before we arrived here but I think it is generally a pleasant surprise. Inevitably you can go out there and find some things that are not quite finished but I think everyone has been working hard and we have got to thank everyone who has put an amazing amount of effort into having the facilities here. I think Korea is a new adventure for Formula One, not just the circuit but certainly an adventure for some of the boys in their hotels but I think by comparison to how it was described it is clearly an exciting country and a lot of investment. I think we will have a good grand prix. There are a couple of corners where the kerbs are a bit tricky, a bit lower than the track surface itself, obviously turn 16 and turn 10 but those I am sure are just teething problems and people will look at that and see what they can do about it.

Christian Horner: Firstly, congratulations to everybody involved in building this track. It is a huge commitment from the country to commit to an infrastructure like the first phase of which we see here. It is an impressive circuit. It is a challenging layout. It is one that will appeal to the drivers. It has got a variance of pretty much every type of corner here. It is great for Formula One. As the footprint of Formula One continues to grow globally it is good to be in Korea. We have had a tremendous welcome from the organisers and on the run-down here from Seoul what a picturesque county it is as well. First impressions have been positive. It is just a shame that we don't go round the circuit the other way around as the straight after the start is going to be a bit of an issue. Maybe going the other way around, having it at the end of the lap rather than the beginning of the lap, would be better. I think it will provide a really entertaining race on Sunday.

You could be out-voted on that?
CH: Possibly.

A question again to all of you. What sort of modifications and developments have you brought here as this race is a bit of an unknown as well.
EB: We have been very conservative and we have not brought here so many modifications on the car. Just a couple of adjustments on electronics or software but nothing very much.

SD: Very few details. Not too much to be honest. On the floor of the car and that's it. If you speak to the engineers it is massive. If you speak to me I tell you...

So it is cheap.
SD: No, that's the problem.

CH: It won't be cheap.

SD: Exactly, but nothing major.

MW: We continue development of the rear wing. The rear wing we ran on the Friday morning in Japan and I think as people saw we did quite a lot of (inaudible word) on that during the course of the morning but I think we made some good progress. We have got a new front wing as well and some other bits and pieces. We are still pushing hard. These guys are pretty quick, so if we are going to catch them we have got to improve our car.

CH: For us I think it is more about refinement than big step changes which is what we have tried to introduce pretty much at every grand prix so far this year. Some refinement mainly in aerodynamic areas but no quantum leaps or anything that is obviously visible.

Eric, now you are managing director how much has your job changed?
EB: There is a little bit more of a need, a commitment, for me to be at Enstone and there are more administrative tasks, mainly.

Does that mean you spend more time at Enstone than Viry now?
EB: I am full-time settled in England now. I was anyway spending more time at Enstone but because of the administrative tasks I have now to deal with I need to clearly spend more time in the office.

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