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2005 British Formula 1 Grand Prix
Teams and driver race previews

Team and Driver race preview

(selected team quotes, for a full team and driver preview click on the team name)

Renault ( Fernando Alonso, Giancarlo Fisichella )

Giancarlo Fisichella "I think we will be very strong – although when we tested there last month, McLaren also looked very quick, so maybe they will be a little bit ahead of us. But we have new engine developments for Silverstone, which will give us a boost, and I have always had strong races there in the past. The car needs to have quite high levels of downforce and a strong engine, and the R25 has both. We have been strong at every circuit, fighting for the podium everywhere. So we will definitely be aiming for a podium finish."

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McLaren ( Kimi Raikkonen, Juan Pablo Montoya )

MARTIN WHITMARSH, CEO FORMULA ONE, TEAM McLAREN MERCEDES "The pace of the MP4-20 package in the hands of both Juan Pablo and Kimi was well demonstrated in France, and as a result we have the potential to challenge for the top spots on the podium at one of three home races for Team McLaren Mercedes this season, the British Grand Prix. As part of our build-up to the British Grand Prix, we conducted a positive test at Silverstone in early June. In addition to other scheduled development work at the session, we completed our pre-race programme including set-up and tyre selection work with Michelin."

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Ferrari ( Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello )

Not yet available.

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Williams BMW ( Mark Webber, Nick Heidfeld )

Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1): "After France, we head to the UK for our home race, the British Grand Prix, and the final part of the double header. Silverstone is a high speed circuit, with fast changes of direction and three straights that reward power. It also has a slow speed complex to finish off the lap. Aero efficiency is important at Silverstone, with the cars' set-up geared towards helping high speed stability while not losing too much grip in the complex.
To give our drivers the best chance at the British Grand Prix, we have some further aero and mechanical upgrades for the cars. The chassis development has been pushed really hard this year to improve the FW27. 2005 has been the hardest and fastest development year we have ever had and the improved chassis proves the hard work is yielding results.
Overtaking is possible at Silverstone, as was demonstrated a couple of years ago. The teams' strategy decisions will be clearer now that the qualifying format has settled down again."

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Toyota ( Jarno Trulli, Ralf Schumacher )

Mike Gascoyne - Technical Director Chassis: "At Silverstone we run fairly high levels of downforce, but not as high as Monaco where we run the highest downforce of the season. Unlike Monaco, Silverstone also has long straights so the extra penalty caused by drag will limit straight line speed. That means the package has to be efficient and not produce unwanted drag. The weather is quite a significant factor with isolated rain showers quite a likelihood over the weekend - even in July! If we know that the race will be run in heavy rain, we will run with more downforce. We would also raise the ride heights to avoid any chance of aquaplaning and we will soften the car to aid traction, especially at the rear. It can be an advantage to test at Silverstone but only if you meet similar conditions at the race weekend. This year we haven't done that much testing there but we have a substantial database from previous races and tests. After six points in France, we have secured good st arting slots for qualifying and we are confident of achieving yet another strong result."

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Red Bull ( David Coulthard, Christian Klein )

Not yet available

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Sauber ( Jacques Villeneuve, Felipe Massa )

Willy Rampf (Technical Director): "Silverstone is dominated by its high-speed corners where car balance and stability are mainly dictated by the aerodynamics of the car. The first corner, Copse, is very quick and leads to the sweeps of Maggots and Becketts where a car must have high-speed stability and the ability to change direction cleanly and quickly. This part of the track highlights any deficiency in the chassis set-up. "This high-speed balance has to be combined with good traction out of Club, Abbey and the last two corners from the complex. Overall the braking energy here is low, but the nature of the track surface leads to relatively high tyre degradation, so we tend to run hard tyres here."

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Jordan ( Tiago Monteiro, Narain Karthikeyan )

Adrian Burgess, Sporting Director
"We are all looking forward to racing at Silverstone our Home Grand Prix, with the factory being so close. We would like to do especially well here with the presence of our factory-based staff, sponsors, guests and fans, who will support us throughout the weekend. Silverstone is a track familiar to our three drivers and it requires the car to be good aerodynamically, mechanically and in terms of power, so it is challenging in every respect for engineers and designers. Robert Doornbos will be driving the new EJ15B on Friday as he did in Magny-Cours and we are looking at adding more mileage and going on with the development of the car for a possible introduction in the race at Hockenheim."

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Minardi ( Christijan Albers, Patrick Freisacher )

Not yet available

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BAR Honda ( Jenson Button, Takuma Sato )

GIL DE FERRAN, SPORTING DIRECTOR
"Following an encouraging performance in France we come to Silverstone in an upbeat mood. It is a very fast circuit that should suit our cars. There is nothing particularly new on the car to speak of for this race, but we are running updated versions of engines and aero packages since the last Silverstone test. The changeable weather can always be an unpredictable factor during the British Grand Prix weekend, which can make things quite interesting on the pit wall! Obviously this is Jenson's and our team's home Grand Prix, so there is a lot going on, which in a way puts a little more pressure on everyone. On the other hand its very motivating to perform in front of the home crowd. Since our factory is just down the road and a lot of our guys live locally, most of our factory-based team will be in attendance."

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Bridgestone

Hisao Suganuma, Technical Manager, said: “The Silverstone Grand Prix circuit is a challenging circuit with both high and very low speed sections. A good lap time, however, comes from the high speed part of the track and the stability of the tyres at Silverstone will be important for car handling. The track surface is quite abrasive which means we may see high tyre wear and because there are several high speed corners, tyres have been chosen from the medium to hard end of the compound range. We are expecting to be competitive at Silverstone having tested there a few weeks ago and got some good indications of which tyres to choose. Of course at Silverstone, the weather can be a bit of a lottery and we could have anything from 35 degrees on track, if sunny, to cool and wet weather. Whatever the weather though, we’ll be ready!”.

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Michelin

Pierre Dupasquier, Michelin motorsport director
“Unlike Magny-Cours, where we won last weekend’s French Grand Prix, Silverstone is a track our engineers know very well because we conduct a number of test sessions here throughout the year.
“Silverstone features a number of rapid directional changes and it is very important to have a chassis with good stability. Furthermore, the asphalt tends to be quite abrasive and the high-speed corners put a significant lateral load on tyres, which makes this one of the most challenging venues of the season from our perspective.
“With these parameters in mind, Michelin’s partner teams will each be able to choose two of four available tyre compounds from the harder end of our range.
“Variable weather can also influence the outcome at Silverstone, but come rain or shine I hope that Michelin will once again demonstrate the winning edge that has been a hallmark of the 2005 Formula One season.”

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