2011 british grand prix preview

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2011 FORMULA1 BRITISH GRAND PRIX SILVERSTONE, 8 TH – 10 TH JULY 2011 NICK: “SILVERSTONE IS dIffERENT TO ThE OThER pLaCES IN f1 - IT’S UNIqUE” VITaLY: “IT IS OUR hOmE GRaNd pRIx aNd I wOULd LOVE US TO haVE a GOOd RESULT” ERIC BOULLIER: “aS aN ENGLISh f1 TEam, IT’S ImpORTaNT wE dO wELL hERE” JamES aLLISON: “wE wILL adapT qUICKLY TO ThE ENGINE maNaGEmENT RULE ChaNGES”

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LRGP prepares for round nine of the season in Silverstone (UK).

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Page 1: 2011 British Grand Prix Preview

2011 FORMULA1 BRITISH GRAND PRIX

• SILVERSTONE, 8th – 10th JULY 2011 • • NICK: “SILVERSTONE IS dIffERENT TO ThE OThER pLaCES IN f1 - IT’S UNIqUE” •

• VITaLY: “IT IS OUR hOmE GRaNd pRIx aNd I wOULd LOVE US TO haVE a GOOd RESULT” • • ERIC BOULLIER: “aS aN ENGLISh f1 TEam, IT’S ImpORTaNT wE dO wELL hERE” •

• JamES aLLISON: “wE wILL adapT qUICKLY TO ThE ENGINE maNaGEmENT RULE ChaNGES” •

Page 2: 2011 British Grand Prix Preview

With another plucky point for the team in Valencia, nick discusses hoW he thinks the neW silVerstone track could suit the team

SILVERSTONE IS dIffERENT TO ThE OThER pLaCES IN f1 - IT’S UNIqUE”

Q&a: nick heidfeldLotus RenauLt GP • Race DRiveR • caR 9

Looking back to the European Grand prix, how would you summarise your weekend in Valencia?Well, the race itself was not as successful as we hoped or even expected it to be after Saturday’s qualifying. P9 and P11 is not what we target, but given our pace on the Friday and Saturday it was clear that was where we were. On Sunday we were hoping to fight with Mercedes because we usually have a stronger race pace than we do in qualifying, but that was not the case. I was aiming to battle for sixth or seventh position but, in the end, it wasn’t to be; finishing in P10 was not a result of any particular mistakes so we have looked at where we can improve for Silverstone.The race in Valencia had a few more battles than we saw in previous years there – is that proof that f1 has got more exciting for spectators?Yes, definitely. The Valencia race is quite a recent addition to the calendar, and during that time it hasn’t been known for its excitement or overtaking. This year there was some, which shows that the changes that were drafted into Formula One prior to this season have made

it more exciting; there was not as much overtaking there as at the previous races this season but still it made for a good spectacle. Vettel may have been leading the whole way, but P2 between Alonso and Webber changed quite a few times so that was entertaining for people.what steps need to be taken to ensure you finish higher up the points in the coming races?As I’ve said before, we understood some of the problems we encountered but you cannot wave a magic wand and change these things overnight. Everyone is working very hard in the factory but the question on all our minds is what’s going to happen with the change in regulations from Silverstone. We will wait to see if that changes the pecking order or the gap between the teams, and then go from there.Looking ahead to the British Gp - do you think the track, with its faster corners, will suit the R31 well?First of all, we will need to see how Pirelli’s choice of tyres (soft and hard) will affect the race - so that’s going to be an interesting aspect. I’ve not actually driven the new track here yet, so that will be exciting for me. I’ve driven at Silverstone

plenty of times before but last year I didn’t, and I know that since then they have changed the layout. I think Silverstone will suit our car a lot better because at the other high speed circuits this year we have been relatively strong. And, with the new regulation changes it’s going to be exciting; some people think nothing will change, some think that we will see changes but it is all just guesswork. A number of people think we will be one of the teams most badly hit (by the changes), but I doubt it. Let’s see who’s right!You finished second at the British Gp before – does the challenge of driving at a new-look Silverstone excite you?Yes it’s always nice to drive at a new track but, on the other hand, if you look at the layout of the old track it was a great track to drive at. On the old circuit there was Bridge Corner, which was quite special; a lot of people involved in racing would say this was quite a unique section but it has gone now. I’m not sure what the new circuit will be like, the first part is the same with a lot of high speed corners such as Stowe. Silverstone is very different to a lot of other places - it’s a unique place that’s for sure.

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“ I ThINK SILVERSTONE wILL SUIT OUR CaR a LOT BETTER BECaUSE aT ThE OThER hIGh SpEEd CIRCUITS ThIS YEaR wE haVE BEEN RELaTIVELY STRONG”

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Q&A: Vitaly PetrovLotus RenauLt GP • Race DRiveR • caR 10

It Is our home Grand PrIx and I would love us to have a Good result”VitAly looks forwArd to silVerstone, A trAck he hAs some good memories of following his gP2 Victory in 2006

have you had a chance to sit down after valencia to analyse the race?Yes, of course. I spoke with my engineers back at the factory to understand the race. What happened at the start was my doing – I touched the paddle on the steering wheel which is very sensitive and was in second gear when the lights went off. Obviously this shouldn’t happen again so we made the necessary change on the steering wheel to avoid this in the future. We saw quite a few teams performing well in Valencia around us. In a certain way, it reinforced the fact that we must keep on pushing to develop the car and work hard.silverstone is a classic venue and the team’s home race. do you enjoy racing there?Silverstone is an interesting

track and it has a new pitlane which we will use for the first time. The circuit has good high speed corners, and it’s the first GP of the season where we’ll have high speed corners like these, so we’ll have to see how the tyres will behave. I have good memories of Silverstone; I won there in GP2 in 2006 so it makes it always enjoyable to come back to a track where I’ve done well in the past. The British weather will make the race unpredictable, but that’s half the charm of it. what type of set up does the circuit require?We will take the baseline set up we had at Silverstone last year and build on that. Of course, we will have to take the tyres into account. The first sector is quite high speed that requires one type of set up but the car would

almost need a different set up for the second and third sectors with slower corners were more traction is required. Basically the car will need to respond to the different demands of the circuit. As usual we will make the most of the free practice sessions to get ready for the race. what objectives do you set yourself for the British Grand Prix?We need to concentrate on making fewer mistakes and to try to continue to work hard to improve our performance and our strategies. Of course, as it is our home Grand Prix and I would love us to have a good result but we have to work towards giving ourselves the best chances to do so.

“ I have Good memorIes of sIlverstone; I won there In GP2 In 2006 so It alwaYs makes It enjoYaBle to come Back to a track where I’ve done well In the Past”

l o t u s r e nau lt G P • B r I t I s h G P P r e v I e w • 0 50 4 • B r I t I s h G P P r e v I e w • l o t u s r e nau lt G P

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a wORdwIThThE BOSS

eric Boullierteam PRinciPaL anD manaGinG DiRectoR

eric explains his excitement at competing in the home race Which, With a neW-look silVerstone, should proVide for a memoraBle Weekend

Just the one point in Valencia, the team must have been looking for a stronger weekend?It was obviously a disappointing weekend, which was not reflective of our level of performance and the level of work and dedication that the team has been putting in. I’m hopeful that we have understood why we didn’t have the right pace and got to the bottom of our problems. We will continue to work closely together, and stick together, to make sure we get stronger and stronger.There was more overtaking in the race than we had seen in previous years – is that proof that formula One has become a better spectacle this year?Yes, I know there were a lot of comments in the media about the Valencia race. Perhaps it was not as dramatic as some of the others this season, but still I think it was a good show and we definitely had an excellent level of reliability from all the team’s cars this weekend. It’s clear, however, that not every race can be as hectic as the one we saw in Montreal.

Looking ahead to the British Grand prix, what would it mean to have a strong race here on home turf?I think it’s important as an English company, and as an English F1 team, to do well at your home race because there’s more local attention. It’s also a tough fight because most teams on the grid are English as well, so it makes it even more exciting. The Silverstone track layout is very good, and we’ve seen many overtaking manoeuvres here in the past so we can expect a strong show and a spectacular race. Obviously we are looking forward to seeing the new complex, which should make this event an even greater success.Regarding the new regulations – about the engine mapping - what effect will this have from Silverstone?It’s a complicated issue and difficult to state their exact impact just yet. What’s certain is that we need to anticipate the changes to the regulations in the best way we can. It will definitely affect every single team, and it’s up to us and our engineers to cope better than our competitors with the changes.

Silverstone is known for its fast corners – will that suit the car well?Considering the races in Monaco and Valencia and our performance there, we can definitely expect the high speed corners to suit our car much better.we’re eight races into the season – what’s your verdict of Lotus Renault Gp’s year so far?My feelings are quite mixed; we had a very strong start to the season with a couple of podiums, but obviously we have now had a few races where we haven’t performed as well as we need to. We know we have to react well; we think we have a clear understanding of what may have gone wrong and we’ve started to correct it. If our car was so good at the beginning of the season, we must be able to get that level of performance back for the remaining 11 races. Now is a good time to really, really push and comprehend why we haven’t been able to keep our pace relative to the other teams on the grid.

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“ThE SILVERSTONE TRaCK LaYOUT IS VERY GOOd, aNd wE’VE SEEN maNY OVERTaKING maNOEUVRES hERE IN ThE paST SO wE CaN ExpECT a STRONG ShOw aNd a SpECTaCULaR RaCE”

Page 5: 2011 British Grand Prix Preview

what can we expect at Silverstone?After three races with only slow speed corners it will be interesting to get back on to a circuit with several challenging high and medium speed corners. As has been extensively discussed, the changes to the engine management rules will make it tricky to know exactly how the car will stack up relative to our competitors, but I am hopeful that we will adapt quickly to the challenge. Another possible area of interest is that we may face a situation, like in Barcelona, where it is better to stay in the garage than it is to use any of the Option tyres in qualifying. what are the challenges of Silverstone?Silverstone is one of the classic F1 circuits. Compared with the last few Grand Prix races, it offers a very wide range of challenging corners which range from fiercely quick to quite slow and technical. Having such a large difference between the fast and slow places a heavy demand on both the driver and his race engineering team to extract the most from the car. In addition, there is always the capricious British weather to contend with.how have the changes of the circuit in the last few years made a difference? Last year’s modification did not really change the essential nature of the track very much; there was a nasty bump in the middle of a fast corner where the old circuit joined the new, but we understand

this has been smoothed down somewhat now. Having a new pit complex may change the time lost in the pit lane, which may in turn have a marginal effect on the strategy choices – we will figure all that out in free practice.how much of a change is it having the race just down the road from the factory? Once the race weekend gets under way for the race team it makes little difference that the track is in our own back yard – they have their heads down at the circuit. For the guys in the factory it is an opportunity to see the car in action, and it is also much easier to rush a new component to the track at the last minute.how do the new qualifying engine mapping restrictions affect the team?The changes caused some bureaucratic headaches for the team but there is little performance effect on the configuration of the car. The full force of the fIa note relating to engine mapping comes into force at Silverstone - can you tell us more about the new situation? The headline changes for the Silverstone GP are as follows: when the driver lifts his foot fully off the throttle pedal, then the ECU maps must be set up so that the engine [to all intents and purposes] closes the throttle – previously it was possible to configure the engine maps to leave the throttle open and reduce the engine power by other means.

Furthermore, when the driver lifts fully off the throttle, the ECU maps must be configured to cut off the fuel supply to the engine – this is intended to prevent so called “hot blowing” where the energy of the exhaust gas is increased by combustion. how do you feel this will impact LRGp relative to the other teams? It is not easy to judge the effect of this change on our competitiveness. The loss for each blown floor car will come from two separate effects – how much downforce will be lost and, in addition, how much will the loss of this downforce upset the balance of the car. All blown floor cars will lose downforce under braking as a result of these new restrictions. Some teams will lose more and some teams less; it is hard to know exactly what relative loss LRGP will suffer. However, it is possible that we will suffer less on the balance shift side of the equation because our forward exit exhausts produce their effect quite near the middle of the car. This means that as the exhaust blow waxes and wanes, it does not really disturb the aerobalance of the car too much. With a rearward blower, the downforce from the exhaust is all generated at the rear axle. As the new rules reduce the blowing effect on corner entry much more than corner exit, it is possible that the rearward blowers will tend to suffer more nervousness under braking and more understeer on exit as a result of the new restrictions. We will find out at Silverstone!

James allisontechnicaL DiRectoR

wE wILL adapT qUICKLY TO ThE ENGINE maNaGEmENT RULE ChaNGES”

lrgp’s technical director looks forWard to seeing hoW the r31 Will fare at one of formula one’s classic races – the British grand prix

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“SILVERSTONE IS ONE Of ThE CLaSSIC f1 CIRCUITS. COmpaREd wITh ThE LaST fEw GRaNd pRIx RaCES, IT OffERS a VERY wIdE RaNGE Of ChaLLENGING CORNERS whICh RaNGE fROm fIERCELY qUICK TO qUITE SLOw aNd TEChNICaL”

Page 6: 2011 British Grand Prix Preview

1. ENGINEThe layout of Silverstone is reasonably hard on the engine due to a high average rpm over the course of a lap. It has an impact on fuel consumption but the Renault V8 engine is very good in this area.

3. SUSpENSIONWe’ve got a new geometry front suspension to try, which we will evaluate on one of the cars on Friday. There isn’t a great deal of kerb usage or anything in particular which relies on any particular aspect of the suspension, as this is more of an aerodynamic efficiency type of circuit. You need a stable car through the high speed corners like Copse, Maggots, Becketts and Chapel, and this achieved through a combination of the aerodynamic balance and suspension settings.

4. REaR wINGAfter three street courses, Silverstone is a return to a slightly lower level of downforce and aerodynamic efficiency, which is king. Our new DRS rear wing worked well at Valencia so we are hoping that this carries true for Silverstone too.

5. TYRESSilverstone is quite hard on tyres because of the high speed corners and it’s not dissimilar to Barcelona in this respect. There has been some resurfacing to Copse, the highest speed sections of the track which could have an impact on tyre wear. Pirelli decided to bring their soft and hard compound.

6

6. fRONT wINGYou may carry a little bit more front wing than at other places in order to balance the car in the high speed corners. This also helps minimise understeer through Brooklands and Luffield, which is vital for a good entry speed to the following straight and on through Copse and into the Becketts complex.

2. BRaKESIn complete contrast to places like Canada or Valencia, where we battle to keep the brakes cool, here we battle to keep them hot enough. Silverstone is very easy on the brakes, as there is relatively little brake usage because so many of the corners are high speed. When you do actually need the brakes they can be quite cold so you have to ensure they stay warm enough to function correctly.

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great Britaintech taLK

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TURN 7It’s essential to minimise understeer through Luffield to ensure good speed on to the straight, through Copse and into the Becketts complex, and on to Stowe.

TURN 9Taken almost flat out, Copse is one of the most daunting corners of the season, it’s resurfaced for this year.

Drivers will have to remember not to look for the pit boards here!

TURN 16Vale is one of the slowest corners, taken at 100kph.

The new section to the circuit for last year was well received.

TURN 1The bump at Abbey has been ‘addressed’.

TURNS 10 - 14Overall car balance is essential through the Becketts complex which is entered at over 300kph.

TURN 15Stowe is approached at over 300 kph.

SILVERStONEa SET-Up GUIdE

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British grand prixthe Rest oF the neWs

You’re currently enjoying your second season in formula One with Lotus Renault Gp. what was the motivation to enter the sport?We wanted to use Formula One for the obvious exposure it would bring the brand. We targeted Formula One as our global marketing platform and having reviewed various scenarios we felt that committing to this team, as we did at the end of the 2009 season, was the best option for us moving forward.

I feel our decision was vindicated given the improved performance of the team last season with Robert (Kubica) and Vitaly (Petrov). We’ve already had two podium finishes to start the 2011 season so things are going well and we work hard to activate our relationship with all our partners around the world putting the TW Steel brand out there.what does your partnership with Lotus Renault Gp bring to the brand?As I said first and foremost, being involved with the team in F1 brings massive global

exposure for TW Steel. We enjoy a visible brand presence on the LRGP cars, and on the team uniforms and in the pit garage. F1 has a huge worldwide TV audience so we benefit from seeing our logo exposed to all those viewers.

We then encourage all our partners to utilise the F1 programme in their markets. That’s either through promotions to win product or a chance to attend a Grand Prix if you purchase a watch. We’ve also enjoyed the use of showcars to further promote our involvement with LRGP and we take the opportunity to bring guests to the I-Race initiative each year also.Last year’s team watches were a big success. will there be a new collection this year to reflect the change to Lotus Renault Gp?Yes! Last year we had a range of TW Steel Renault F1 Team watches that sold extremely well I’m pleased to say. There will be a TW Steel Lotus Renault GP collection available shortly. We’re excited to be building on the successes of the partnership and continuing to offer

affordable luxury!what are your stand-out moments so-far from the 2011 formula One season?For me personally it’s the opportunity to use our partnership with the team to engage both our own partners and our brand ambassadors. It was fantastic to see Vitaly and Nick (Heidfeld) on the podium in Australia and Malaysia respectively and great promotion for our brand in those countries. I also attended the Turkish Grand Prix with Kivanç Tatlituğ our brand ambassador there. Kivanç is huge in Turkey so again it was a fantastic opportunity for cross promotion, and he enjoyed the opportunity to meet Vitaly and Nick and see F1 up-close. He obviously liked it as he came to the Monaco Grand Prix with us too!

Again, Monaco is a special event and we threw a party on our yacht for partners and friends of the brand. It was great that Nick joined us as well, both for the party and for a media event we hosted earlier on the Friday in Monaco with David Coulthard, another brand ambassador for TW Steel!

mEmORIES Of SILVERSTONE… BY SIR JaCKIE STEwaRTMy memories of Silverstone go back to 1953 when I went with my brother Jimmy Stewart to Silverstone where he was driving a Cooper Bristol in the British GP for Ecurie Ecosse. With ten laps to go he was lying in fifth as the leading Brit when he went straight on at Copse corner and had a shunt, so I certainly have vivid memories of Silverstone and my first visit.

The recollections go back a long way. I visited from 1953-55 with my brother and collected autographs from the greats; Fangio, Ascari, Villoresi, Taruffi, Stirling Moss, Mike Hawthorn and the like, so Silverstone does have a special place in my heart.

I was lucky enough to go on and win two British GPs for Ken Tyrrell, one driving the Matra MS80 in 1969 and one in 1971 for the Tyrrell Ford. It was in both those years that I also won the World Championship.

One of the best races that I ever had was in 1969, racing against Jochen Rindt when he was driving his Lotus 49 and I had the Matra MS80. We had thirty lead changes within that race, not always on the start/finish straight but slipstreaming down hangar straight and again slipstreaming to the entrance of Woodcote.

Jochen ran into a bit of trouble when his rear wing end plate was seriously threatening to cut a rear tyre, and he came

into the pits. Later, for whatever reason, he ran short of fuel so I was able to go on and win quite comfortably.

My third World Championship British GP was also at Silverstone when I went off the track at Stowe with a gearbox issue, but returned to finish in tenth position.

ThE TRaCK…Silverstone has historically been one of the favourite tracks of almost every Grand Prix driver because of its high speed corners. A slow corner track is a much easier track to drive, however it is the challenge of fast corners that really sorts the men from the boys.

This year we have the new configuration (which we saw last year for the first time) combined with the new pit at paddock complex called The Wing. This is a huge building measuring about a quarter of a mile in length, and it has been created to guarantee the continuation of the Grand Prix in the United Kingdom after many years of discussions with FOM as to whether the race was even going to be retained within the calendar.

Nowadays Silverstone is a modern circuit in every respect. Britain has been well established as the capital

for technology within the world of motorsport, and it even carries greater prestige because so many of the 40-50,000 employees within the motorsports industry in the UK want to go to Silverstone for the race.

Not only that, but many teams including Lotus Renault GP are based in England so it’s very much their local race.

Another reason I love Silverstone is because of the British Racing Drivers Club. It is the only private members club in the world who owns its own Formula One Grand Prix circuit within its own estate - quite impressive really!

ThE BRITISh wEaThER…Britain’s not known for its sunny climes, and we’ve had some extraordinary weather conditions at Silverstone which is always more challenging due to it being a fast circuit. The circuit is well designed to have a very limited amount of standing water, which is one of the biggest challenges for a driver because aquaplaning is clearly one of the most dangerous elements which occurs when it rains heavily. In a high speed circuit you’ve got to drive smoothly, and be very precise in your driving. Silverstone provides an enormous challenge in that respect.

BIGIN OVERSIZEdwaTChESJordy coBelens is the 28-year-old chief executiVe officer and co-oWner of tW steel, the ‘official timing partner’ to lotus renault gp. haVing groWn the dutch timepiece Brand, specialising in oVersized Watches, from a modest four-Watch collection Back in 2005 into a truly gloBal lifestyle Brand in 2011, coBelens is understandaBly proud of his company’s successes and the exposure gained for tW steel through its relationship With lotus renault gp in formula one. www.twsteel.com

Page 8: 2011 British Grand Prix Preview

British grand prixthe Rest oF the neWs

This is the highest g-force the drivers experience in the lap at T9

for 2.5 seconds

This is the number of gear changes per lap

The percentage of the lap spent at full throttle

In km/h this is the top speed, just before T15

3.750

66.7310

The percentage of the lap spent braking

In km/h this is the lowest apex speed at T4

In km/h this is the highest apex speed at T11

This is the longest distance, in metres, on full throttle between T13 and T15

1480270833

SILVERStONEIN NUmBERS

dId YOU KNOw? We’ve got a new geometry front suspension to try, which we will evaluate on one of the cars on Friday.

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Where can you folloW us?on our website, to start with:

www.lotusrenaultgp.com (english, french, german, russian and polish versions)

On Twitter: twitter.com/officiallrgpOn Facebook: lotus-renault-gp-the-officialVitaly on Twitter: twitter.com/vitalypetrov10Nick on Twitter: twitter.com/nickheidfeldBruno on Twitter: twitter.com/BsennaRomain on Twitter: twitter.com/rgrosjean

Who’s Who at lrgp ?•gerard lopez Chairman•eric Boullier Team Principal and

Managing Director•patrick louis Chief Operating Officer•James allison Technical Director•naoki tokunaga Deputy Technical Director•martin tolliday Chief Designer•dirk de Beer Head of Aerodynamics•steve nielsen Sporting Director•alan permane Chief Race Engineer•gavin hudson Chief Mechanic•Jean-marc Bories Chief Marketing Officer•stephen curnow Chief Commercial Officer•stephane samson Head of Communications

TRACKSIDE HOSPITAlITy•The girls in our hospitality who will look after

our guests are simona, adriana and daniela•Catering: massimilian, riccardo and simoneto

Silverstone has as much a place at the heart of the British summer sporting season as Wimbledon, Royal Ascot,

Goodwood and cricket at Lords.As the Formula One circus reaches

the historic racetrack, we thought we’d discover what the Silverstone meant to our very own LRGP staff...

Sarah, merchandising and licensing co-ordinator: “It makes me feel very proud, very British. It’s great to have a Grand Prix in your home country and the British fans are great, some of the best, probably!”

Simon, race engineer: “It’s kind of strange because it’s the only Grand Prix of the season where I come home in the evening. It’s also really nice; this year, for example I’ll get the chance to go out for dinner with my parents on the Saturday night. Normally you go into a routine hotel-circuit-hotel. So in a funny sort of way I find it a little bit weird…”

Gemma, race team secretary: “It’s nice because we have a lot of people from the

factory saying ‘I’m going to the Grand Prix this weekend’ and of course we give as many guys as possible the opportunity to visit the paddock. There’s definitely more talk about the GP around the factory than for any other track and, in a way, because it is held around the corner people feel even more involved than usual”

Dan, mechanic: “Silverstone is the first circuit I ever went to as a member of the public. It was in 1999, I was with a friend

from New Zealand. David Coulthard won that year and I also remember Michael Schumacher’s crash when he broke his leg. So it was the first time I’d ever seen a F1 car going around a circuit. I was very impressed, we sat opposite the podium. I also remember that I got really sunburnt that day!”

Shaun in non-destructive testing: “I’ve got a number of good memories from Silverstone. I once met Arnold Schwarzenegger there, I think it was for the launch of Terminator 3 and they had an Apache helicopter there.”

Paul, engineering coordinator: “Silverstone is definitely special. It’s our home Grand Prix and we race in front of our countrymen. The crowds are great, there are a lot of Union Jack flags…it is always very enjoyable. I also have a personal memory as I was working on Johnny Herbert’s car the year he won the British GP. It was great, my wife was there that year and it was pretty special.”

nicK and vitaLy’s guide to silVerstone dESCRIBE SILVERSTONE IN ThREE wORdSNick: Home of motorsport.Vitaly: Technical, fast, unpredictable weather! (well, that’s four!)

faVOURITE pUBS?Nick: There’s some great, typical English pubs around!Vitaly: I don’t know any specific places but I’ve been to some nice pubs with some engineers nearby Enstone.

whaT dO YOU ThINK Of ThE TRaCK?Nick: I enjoyed the old track for the same reasons I’ll enjoy the new one – it has a lot of high speed corners. Turn one is quite straightforward but after that there are lots of interesting parts of the track, not least The Complex which includes a number of quick corners following each other closely. It’s a very unique place to drive.Vitaly: Silverstone is an interesting track and it has a new pitlane which we will use for the first time. The circuit has good high speed corners, and it’s the first GP of the season where we’ll have high speed corners like these, so we’ll have to see how the tyres will behave.

BEST mEmORY Of SILVERSTONE?Nick: My second place there in 2008.Vitaly: I won a GP2 series race at Silverstone in 2006, in the wet.

GREaT BRITaIN - hOmE RaCE

faNaTICaL This gentleman sure knows a good car when he sees one. Nice work, sir!

“IT’S KINd Of STRaNGE BECaUSE IT’S ThE ONLY GRaNd pRIx Of ThE SEaSON whERE I COmE hOmE IN ThE EVENING”

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more images available online: www.lotusrenaultgp.com

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media contactsteam Principal and managing Director

and finally…cirebox

18 • B R I T I S h G p p R E V I E w • L O T U S R E NaU LT G p

LOTUS RENaULT Gp pRESS OffICEAddress Lotus Renault GP Whiteways Technical Centre Enstone Oxfordshire OX7 4EE

UK

Telephone +44 (0) 1608 678 000

Facsimile +44 (0) 1608 678 609

Email [email protected]

mEdIa CONTaCTS Stephane Samson, Head of Communications

+44 (0) 7827 307 185

[email protected]

Clarisse Hoffmann, Senior Press Officer

+44 (0) 7747 468 273

[email protected]

Ben Nichols, Press Officer

+44 (0) 7748 920 072

[email protected]

Andy Stobart, Press Officer

+44 (0) 7703 366 151

[email protected]

Website lotusrenaultgp.com

Facebook facebook.com/pages/Lotus-Renault-GP-The-Official

Twitter twitter.com/OfficialLRGP

Page 11: 2011 British Grand Prix Preview