Jaguar goes 'home'

"It's always good to come back to Silverstone, and this year should be particularly good because of the Jaguar name," said Johnny, speaking the Jaguar website.

Furthermore, Herbert is confident that the race will mark an upturn in what is at present a disappointing start to the season.

"The engine issues we had earlier in the season put us back a bit, but I think we're on the right track now and we will keep moving forward. The atmosphere is always really lively at Silverstone. There's a real warmth that goes around, and hopefully that warmth will dry out the track this weekend!"

Driver Eddie Irvine is keeping his feet on the ground, and not overplaying his chances, despite a promising seventh place finish at the San Marino Grand Prix two weeks ago.

"For Jaguar and Jaguar Racing it will be an important weekend, appearing before its home crowd for the first time. It will be interesting to see how much green there will be in the grandstands. I am not that keen on Silverstone as a track, and overtaking is difficult, although it does have one or two challenging corners. Technically, it is quite difficult to get the set-up right, but as we continue to progress with our car, we should be in good shape."

"The British Grand Prix has come a bit earlier than we would have liked this year and our preparation has been disrupted by the weather," said Jaguar Racing's race director Andy Miller. "Having said that, we carried on regardless and ended up having quite a reasonable test. We've made significant progress in a couple of areas which hopefully we will reap the rewards of this weekend."