Giorgio Pantano comes to the Great Britain Round brimming with confidence after taking the championship lead after his win in the feature race in France, where his title rival, Bruno Senna was dogged with mechanical problems. Sebastian Buemi can also take heart from a stunning performance in the last round where he started 21st and won the sprint race driving in a very mature fashion to avoid all of the carnage, including an accident between Pantano and Vitaly Petrov.

The battle is also heating up between the teams, with only 6 points separating iSport, Racing Engineering and Piquet racing, on 41, 38 and 35 points respectively at the midpoint of the season. iSport won 2007 the feature race with former driver Andreas Zuber, and they certainly hope to recreate the form this season.

The weekend promises to be an exciting one, with fierce competition ensuring a tough battle between the drivers, and the possibility of rain on Sunday for the sprint race. The track is a high speed circuit with few overtaking possibilities and high tyre wear, so as usual, qualifying will be paramount to scoring well at Silverstone.

Mike Conway has his own opinion of his home track, and he talked the official GP2series.com website through a lap of the circuit: “The first sector is great fun to drive. From that start finish straight you are in 5th gear into the corner, a tiny stab on the brake, then you just attack, attack all the way, but being careful not to step on to the run-off area, which can pull you off – it’s really easy to get caught out. Then you’re into the Maggotts-Becketts-Chapel complex which again is really fast – you have to stay smooth through there, keeping as much speed as you can and getting a fast exit onto Hanger straight. Down Hangar into Stowe, a fast entry then down two gears, and along a short straight before entering the quick left/right of Club. It’s easy to have difficulties with traction here, so the line is critical. A dash down to Abbey, and there’s nothing too technical here, just remember to use a lot of curb and watch out for that tricky bump on the exit, especially in the wet. Bridge comes up quickly and is very fast, flat when it’s dry, which means Priory arrives even faster. The apex is blind, so watch the entry. There are two slow lefthanders which need you to brake as late as possible then is bang on the power again all the way around Woodcote and onto the straight, time it all properly and you hit 6th gear before passing the start/finish line…then you get to do it all again!”

Expect the battle between Senna and Pantano to step up a level this weekend.

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