Europe preview quotes: Williams

"We tested in Spa last week, which was a great experience in itself because I've never driven the track before in a Formula One car. There was a lot of rain, but we just slowly worked our way through our planned set-up work and made some good progress."

Alex Wurz: "Ever since I can remember, the Nurburgring has meant something special to our family. My Grandfather used to take my father on trips there from Austria to watch the races on the legendary Nordschleife, so there was always lots of talk about this crazy racetrack in our family. During my days in German F3, I lived just a few hundred metres away from the circuit for two years.

"The new track layout requires a neutral set-up and, as a driver, you need to find a good rhythm in order to get the best lap time. It's going to be a great race and I hope that in the post-Schumacher era the German fans will still be as excited about Formula One as they were before."

Sam Michael, Technical Director: "Nurburgring is a track at which we are looking forward to seeing the performance of the FW29. It benefits from a good circuit layout, and there are some great overtaking places. The last chicane always provides opportunities on the entry, and exit, if someone gets it wrong! With such sustained lateral loading on the car, the tyres always get a hard time around this track.

"The Bridgestone Potenza tyres we will have in Germany will be the medium and soft versions, two tyres that we have plenty of experience with. Teams will either use a one or two stop strategy in this race. The gap between everyone is now so close that every half a tenth really counts, whether gained in qualifying or the race."