British GP - Thursday press conference - Pt.1

Drivers: Rubens Barrichello (Williams), Jenson Button (McLaren), Paul di Resta (Force India), Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) and Daniel Ricciardo (HRT).

Press conference

Q:
Daniel, what a birthday present. July 1st was your birthday and that was pretty much the day you were announced a Formula One driver full-time.

Daniel Ricciardo:
Yeah, it was quite a nice birthday present for me. It was quite a big surprise. I didn't expect to be racing Formula One this year so it's a huge opportunity for me and still a bit of a shock. But I am sure it will all be realised come Sunday.

Q:
You must have a bit of a love-hate relationship with Silverstone. The last time I saw you here you ended up on your head, having flipped at the start of the World Series by Renault race, last September I think it was. Yet here you make your grand prix debut.

DR:
Yeah, some mixed emotions here but generally I have gone well and it is one of the circuits I enjoy. I had one of my greatest races here back in 2008, with the Formula Renault, so it's been good to me and it is quite close to my second home in England. I am able to sleep in my own bed this weekend, which is nice. Just looking forward to going out there and trying to do a good job.

Q:
What is your aim basically. Obviously the HRT isn't exactly known as a front runner. Does that worry you? Is your only real rival Tonio Liuzzi, your team-mate?

DR:
It doesn't worry me at all. As I said it is a huge opportunity to get a chance to race in Formula One. It is something I have dreamed of since I was a boy. For the race I think the first aim is to try to finish and just get the miles under my belt and the experience at this level of my career. That's the most important thing. Never done a race this long so physically and mentally to find out where I am, I think that is going to be good. If I can try and be competitive compared to Tonio, he is very experienced, and I am sure I can learn something from him so we will see how I go.

Q:
Rubens, you virtually grew up at Silverstone, obviously, with your F3 races years and years ago. What do you think of the latest version of Silverstone? Amazingly enough the weather doesn't seem to have changed, but apart from that I am sure you have seen many changes?

Rubens Barrichello:
That will never change - the weather. It's the same every year we come here. You look on the TV, they had some sun but it seems like it is going to rain exactly when we come here. It is all good and part of the show. I think Silverstone has been fantastic in what they have done. The track is, the layout and the corners for me, it is one of the best. It is the one I enjoy the most. The facilities now seem to be up to Asia standards and it is all good to go.

Q:
Now, you are also a former winner here and six times on the podium as well. What are your thoughts about this weekend with Williams?

RB:
Well, I think the new rules won't change much the top end. I think the fight between Red Bull, McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari, they were all pretty sorted so they might lose something but it might not change the places very much. But it might help the other teams such as Williams to come a bit closer. How much I don't know. We also have new stuff on the car such as new front wings and some different things that should help ourselves so I am hoping for a competitive weekend. We will have to see what the weather is going to be playing. But I would love to get into Q3 and to finish in the top eight. I think that is a real target for the weekend.

Q:
What is your reaction to the news on Monday that Renault will be powering Williams next year?

RB:
I was thrilled. I was glad that Williams is working very hard to get back to the top. This is one of the changes. I have been to the factory a couple of times this last week to talk to new people, talking to everyone, and the attitude is very good. If I did say a couple of months ago that I needed Williams to get their act together and do things, they are, so I am very proud of that and I think it's going to the right direction as far as next year is concerned.

Q:
Jenson, this will be your 12th British Grand Prix. Two-time fourth place, your best here, so how badly do you want to win this race?

Jenson Button:
Yeah, I haven't even got on the podium here before in an F1 car. That will be my first aim. It is one you would love to win, your home grand prix. We all want to fight for a World Championship and I think we all want to win Monaco and I think we would love to win our home grand prix. It is the one I haven't achieved yet so that is something I will be fighting for and this is a pretty special race for us as Brits. We get a lot of support from the public here. To see so many Union Jacks and St George Crosses around the place and the rocket red caps, so it's a really, really nice atmosphere. Hopefully we can put on a good show for them this weekend.

Q:
Do you think with the new regulations there is a chance there?

JB:
There is always a chance. Whether it is a big enough one I don't know. I think if you look at the last race you'd say the Red Bull was very strong and we were quite a long way behind them. But we have updates for this race, which hopefully will help us and also we have the difference in the blown diffuser this race and the electronics. That might help us more than the other teams. I don't know, it might not. That's something we just have to see when we get out on the circuit. But I think the important thing is that we have done a lot of preparation work for this race with the new components and also running with the new blown diffuser system. It's about preparation for this race. This is a pretty tough circuit to get out onto with the new package so preparation is key and I think we have prepared very well and hopefully that will show tomorrow when we get out there.

Q:
Lots has been written about where Lewis might or might not be going. It is all speculation of course, but what about your own situation?

JB:
I'm going, going, gone.

Q:
In the future, next year?

JB:
I haven't sat down and talked to Martin (Whitmarsh) yet about the future. They have an option on me for next year, I keep reading in the press. It's not the time to be discussing it I don't think. We have got more important things to be concentrating on, fighting for a victory here, so we will leave that on the back-burner for now and look into that later this season. But I am happy where I am. We are all fighters and we all want to achieve and at the moment we have been a little bit behind the Red Bulls but we are fighting on. I think the team are doing a great job of bringing updates and reasonably big updates to most grand's prix, and especially this one, the home grand prix, so I think we are all doing a very good job. We will see if it works out for us when we get out on the track.

Q:
Paul, hopefully you regard this as your home race. But apart from the odd DTM race, at probably Donington and Brands Hatch, you haven't had too many home races. So what are your feelings as you come into this?

Paul di Resta:
It's a massive weekend this weekend. Probably the biggest race of my career so far. Proud to be part of (it with) Jenson and Lewis, they are back-to-back World Champions, and to come to Silverstone, on this new generation, this revamped track, I think it is an interesting weekend. But no doubt a lot of hard work. Our preparation has been as normal, like we have to do for 19 grands prix this year, and will continue to go like that. I am sure the British weather will make it not quite so straightforward this weekend but I will just do my utmost to try to go forward.

Q:
You did Friday last year but just one other race here on the national Circuit apparently?

PdR:
Yeah, I haven't done a huge amount here. Obviously, I went to Europe when I was very young in cars. Only got the opportunity to drive and race here once. The biggest memory I have it was the first place I drove a Formula One car on the National track as part of the BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award. I mean Silverstone has changed a lot since then. These cars do excel themselves here. It is very fast. It isn't easy but we had a reasonable session on the simulator yesterday so hopefully that has given me a bit of an idea and hopefully the running I did last year I will be able to capitalise on that.

Q:
Have you been happy with your season so far or have you expected more? What are your thoughts about it?

PdR:
I think it was very positive at the beginning. There have been some definite highs and lows but I think, standing from the outside, you can generally be quite pleased with it. The good thing is I seem to be relatively competitive to my team-mate. We are going forward and hopefully I can just build upon that. But at the end of the year this is a difficult step and certainly the more tracks you go to, all the tracks have been new to me. I haven't raced on any of them. This one isn't going to be any different and these guys have a lot of experience and I respect that. I have watched them over the years and hopefully you can just be in the mix to be competitive against them.

Q:
Lewis, pole position here in 2007. You won in 2008 as well. Amazing GP2 race. What are your feelings about this circuit?

Lewis Hamilton:
I have had some good races here. I think my first race we did a Kart GP here years and years ago, probably in 1994 or something like that. Then I did Formula Renault here in 2001 or 2002 but I generally have had very, very good races here and it is a very, very special place. Not far away from where I grew up. But it is very special and I think the circuit is already a special place, but now they have revamped it as well it is just even better. It feels great to be here, coming to the new paddock this morning. It is so much different to previously. It felt kind of odd when we got to the roundabout up the road instead of turning left we have gone right and come down here. I think it is going to be great for the fans, (I'm) really, really pleased and proud of the work that has been done on this place so I hope we can translate that into a good result for the fans.

Q:
What everybody wants to know is just how much the regulations might have changed things. What do you think? What sort of chance do you have on Sunday?

LH:
I think they have made a reasonable difference. When you take away the engine modes we have been using before it will be different for the likes of Ferrari and for the Renault engines particularly I think as they use it slightly different than us. Whether or not they are hampered more than us, who knows. But I think the team have done a great job with trying to understand and get on top of things and to recover elsewhere, through set-up and through other bits, through updates we have coming. So I really, really hope that we are at least as good as them if not better. In terms of driving style and all that, I think we have had a good chance to be on the simulator again to do a good job there.

Q:
I suspect you and Jenson have had a very busy 10 days or week leading up to this race. Just give us some indication of what you have been up to?

LH:
Yeah, I went straight from Valencia to Portugal, Portugal straight to Switzerland for a couple of hours then straight to the UK. Quite a lot of work in between there and then just been in the UK pretty much the whole time doing appearances. I think I got a day or so at home over the weekend and then been here again so it has been quite a busy period.