Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari
2007 Qualifying - 3rd, 2007 Race - 1st
“I think that things will look really different at Magny-Cours, compared to the last GPs. The smooth surface of the French track, its demanding corners and the quick changes of direction will underline the characteristics of the F2008.It was here in France last year that my season practically started all over again; and this is what I need now, after the two races with no points. I like this track and I think that it’s perfect for our car. I think we’ll be competitive and that we can go for the maximum result.
“All the races are important and one point can make the difference, like in 2007. This year will be an equally balanced championship and that’s the reason why you always need to bring home something. Kubica is leading the standings and, apart from the first race, has always collected some points. Hamilton will start further back, due to the penalty. But you should never underestimate McLaren: we have to give our best to keep them behind. We’ll bring some new technology and here the Team is giving its best, but that is what also our competitors do.”
Lewis Hamilton, McLaren
2007 Qualifying - 2nd, 2007 Race - 3rd
“Mentally, (my ten-place grid penalty) is just something that you learn to overcome quickly. It certainly won’t affect my preparations for the French Grand Prix. We’ve already looked at the best ways of optimising the strategy to help us move up the field and I guess I’ll just have to pass some cars if I want to get into the points!
“Magny-Cours isn’t the easiest place to overtake but it’s certainly possible. You can dive down the inside into the Adelaide Hairpin and also have a look into the penultimate corner. But an area we can really focus on is the strategy - Magny-Cours has a relatively short pitlane which does open up the strategic options available to us in the race.
“Although the result in Canada may have been disappointing, our overall pace was a great boost for the whole team. Last year, we lacked a little bit of pace in high-speed corners, but this year’s car definitely seems to have overcome those shortcomings. We are in good shape.”
Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber
2007 Qualifying - 4th, 2007 Race - 4th
“For many people Magny-Cours is a boring place, but I like the track quite a lot. This is the place where I came back last year after my accident. It’s an interesting track because it has all kinds of corners - high-speed, low-speed, high-speed chicanes, a hairpin and heavy braking. So I’m looking forward to the race and I hope that I can do as well as possible here, as I have done in most of the grands prix since the beginning of the season. I hope we will again have some improvements on the car that will help us to close the gap to Ferrari and McLaren. My goal is to score as many points as possible and to still be in a strong position after the race.”
Jarno Trulli, Toyota
2007 Qualifying - 8th, 2007 Race - DNF
“Magny-Cours is an exciting circuit. It has a lot of quick chicanes, which I like, but also some slow and medium speed corners so this makes it an interesting and challenging track. I enjoy visiting France and I feel quite at home there. The French fans are always very supportive to me and I hope we can really show them how competitive our car is by scoring points again. In particular we want to achieve a strong result this weekend as a tribute to Ove (Andersson) because without him I’m not sure whether Toyota would be competing in Formula One now. He helped build up the factory from scratch back in the rally times to what it is now; a real Formula One facility with the potential to produce world championship-winning cars. He loved motorsport and it was his passion to see Toyota succeed so I hope we can achieve something fitting this weekend.”
Adrian Sutil, Force India
2007 Qualifying - 22nd, 2007 Race - 17th
“Actually I quite like Magny-Cours. I know a lot of drivers don’t enjoy it, but it’s one of my favourite tracks as I like the layout with the quick chicane, the long right hander through the corner to the straight, the hairpin - it’s exactly what I like and I already know I am quite quick around there! I’ve had some good results in F3 there, and then did my first F1 practice at the track too. Now with some race experience I’ve got a lot of good memories.
“I hope now I can get another good memory from France. The last two races have been disappointing in results, with two DNFs which is never good, but we have been quite competitive in the races. In Monaco especially, but in Canada also I was very close to the Toyotas, but just couldn’t find a way past. It could have been a good race, it was a shame not to finish.
“I hope then in Magny-Cours we are able to do a really great race. I have experience now, I know the track so I am really confident I can do well. We are also getting better in qualifying, but are just not close enough to get into Q2. We have to work on this in France.”
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