If Rosberg is being lifted to new heights, then team-mate Alex Wurz is by contrast under pressure to perform, particularly in light of the youngsters pace. Yet again languishing outside the top 16 in qualifying when he failed to make the second stage for the third race in a row, Wurz needs his experiencing pounding around the
Silverstone circuit in his years of testing to push him further up the grid.
“Silverstone is our home GP, so that’s exciting for everyone in the team, but I also love it because it’s a cool track. There’s no braking in the high speed first sector and lots of G-forces for the drivers to contend with. It is quite a difficult track to get right though because of the different wing types required and the changeable conditions. Getting a good set-up is tricky and often has to be a compromise between top speed and downforce for the corners. As we saw in France, it’s going to be a hard fight again because everyone is very close, but we’ll be on the maximum attack to get some points.”
Scuderia Toro Rosso – Vitantonio Liuzzi (#18), Scott Speed (#19):
A solid race for Scuderia Toro Rosso in France, particularly for Scott Speed whose pace in practice and qualifying saw him comprehensively out pace team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi for the first time this season.
In the end reliability woes, the cornerstone of STR’s season so far, claimed Scott Speed in the race and Liuzzi was dismissed following a clash with
Anthony Davidson on the first lap, a result that proved their fourth double retirement in eight races. Still, with one car in the second phase of qualifying in France and Liuzzi just missing out, the addition of a revised gearbox in Magny-Cours was seemingly doing its job.
Silverstone though beckons for the
STR team and after a good test there prior to Magny-Cours, a pair of solid finishes are likely to be the targets.
Spyker F1 – Christijan Albers (#20), Adrian Sutil (#21):
Still counting down the days until the heavily revised FV8-VII arrives in what is expected to be Turkey, Spyker soldiered on in France once again, qualifying at the back of the field and running there for the length of the race.
