By role
July 9 2004

Spanish Driver Fernando Alonso is feeling great after his pole and podium finish at the French Grand Prix. The Spaniard believes the team can continue being competitive at the upcoming British Grand Prix and is determined to fight hard for more podiums. “I'm feeling great coming in to the Silverstone race. Magny-Cours was a strong race for the whole team, and we really forced Ferrari into racing hard for the win - not many people have done that this year, so really we should be pleased. I think Silverstone should suit us quite well too: you need good aerodynamic performance there, and we have that. It is a power circuit, and we were a little bit behind our rivals at the last test in June, but we have found more performance since then. I am expecting us to be very competitive.” He said

“In terms of driving the circuit, Silverstone is one of those places where it is hard to make a real difference: every driver knows it, and we test there a lot, so the performance between the drivers is quite equal - there is not much advantage to gain from circuit knowledge. The first sector is undoubtedly the best - with high speed corners, it is interesting for the driver. But the third sector, which looks quite normal, quite standard, is where you can gain a lot of time if you really focus on it. The other strange thing at Silverstone is the wind direction - as a driver, it is very hard to tell what is happening. You can guess, but never be totally sure. Usually, we only find out about a tailwind or headwind when we start braking, and find it is too late or too early - so you sometimes need to be able to adjust very quickly!” He added.