"We had a positive test at Spa, with a lot of dedication from everyone within the team," the world champion noted, "This season is very competitive and we all have to push hard to find more performance from every part of the car, particularly for the Nürburgring. It is not a track that depends on a particular part of the car and it is difficult to get the maximum performance here. The layout of the track, with the range of corners, means that you have to have a consistent balance for the different speeds, so there will be a lot of hard work with my engineers to get a competitive set-up.
"The changes to the track a couple of years ago have added another chance, under braking into the Mercedes Arena at the first corner. This will be my first time as a Vodafone
McLaren Mercedes driver racing in front of all the Mercedes-Benz employees from Stuttgart, who, I have been told, mostly sit in this section of the track. I am really looking forward to it and hope we can give them a good race."
Hamilton, meanwhile, returns to the Eifel circuit knowing that he enjoyed a successful weekend there on his way to the GP2 crown in 2006, but determined to overturn memories of a difficult home race, where he admitted to not getting his set-up right.
"Despite having a mixed weekend at
Silverstone, we still came away from the track with a good haul of points and I am now really looking forward to getting back to the Nürburgring," he confirmed, "I had a great weekend there last year, taking my first double win of the year, and, in 2005, I also won one race there in F3.
Renault – Giancarlo Fisichella (#3), Heikki Kovalainen (#4):
Renault arrives in Germany having failed to take the fight to championship rival BMW Sauber at Silverstone and keen to elevate itself back into the fight for third rather than slipping back into the mire that already includes
Toyota,
Williams,
Red Bull and, increasingly,
Honda.
"The target is clear - to continue closing the gap to BMW on track, and to begin doing so in the championship," technical director Bob Bell confirmed, "If you look back to the opening races of the year, it was as if we were in a different race to them. Now we are regularly qualifying in the top ten and, according to the type of circuit, racing with our direct rivals. Giancarlo and Heikki are both pushing very hard and getting the maximum from the car but they now need a more performance to fight on equal terms with
BMW.
"I’m very optimistic we can maintain our upward trajectory but, as we have been working to understand and solve our problems, we have fallen behind in the normal development of the car. The gap to our rivals reflects that. The solution is very simple - we need to accelerate our pace of development in the second half of the season. It will be a big challenge, but it’s one that the factory is ready to take up. Our commitment is as strong as ever."
