Britain Preview Quotes: McLaren

David Coulthard: "The Mobil 1 French Grand Prix showed that the MP4-19B package is a lot more competitive and that our performance is nearer that of the current front runners. This was particularly illustrated during qualifying where I put the car third on the grid just under three tenths of a second behind pole position. There is of course still work to be done, but the car has good potential and I am looking forward to working with the team to extract it. Silverstone is a very different concept to the Magny Cours circuit, primarily because it is more high speed, reaching 170mph or more on four sections of the track. It also has five key corners that you have to drive on the limits to maximise your lap, and are quick enough for aerodynamics to play a significant role, Copse, Maggots, Becketts, Chapel and Bridge. As a result good chassis balance is vital at Silverstone. As my home race, the British Grand Prix is very important to me, and of course the team. I always looking forward to racing at Silverstone in front of my home crowd with its enthusiastic atmosphere, and hopefully with the MP4-19B we will be able to secure a solid points finish in front of them."

Kimi Raikkonen: "I enjoyed driving the MP4-19B in a competitive environment last weekend and am really looking forward to racing it again so soon after the Mobil 1 French Grand Prix. On paper it may not have seemed to be the best result, but this was more due to circumstance and we felt that the car ran well. I have had the opportunity to test the MP4-19B at Silverstone, it was a positive session and the car felt good there. Silverstone is a challenging circuit to drive, but it does allow you to really push the limits on it super fast corners. For example Copse, which is great fun to drive. It is very fast and probably one of the quickest on the calendar. There are also some slower, much tighter bends at Silverstone that demand good traction, as a result we need to ensure set-up is optimised to get the best out of the car. We now of course have data from the 19B in a race situation, which will help with this. Despite the generally smooth nature of the track surface, we also have to take into consideration that Silverstone can be fairly tough on tyres. A usual set-up is medium to low downforce."

Martin Whitmarsh, CEO Formula One: "The Mobil 1 French Grand Prix demonstrated that MP4-19B has provided us with a major step forwards in terms of overall performance. We are all fully aware however, that another significant step is required to reach the level we as a team strive for. As the British Grand Prix sees the final back-to-back of the season, there is no opportunity to test this week, however we have the benefit of having tested 19B at Silverstone a couple of weeks ago and we have some further developments to bring on line for our home race."

Norbert Haug, Vice President, Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: "The MP4-19B's performance during its race debut was a step forward in terms of both speed and reliability. It could be seen from the lap times in qualifying and during the race that the Michelin teams were much closer together. In qualifying, which saw David achieving third position on the grid, the five fastest Michelin runners from four different teams were within half a second as they were in the race including Kimi's third fastest time overall. We need to make further steps in terms of lap times and reliability to achieve our targets."