Silverstone challenge excites the drivers

That is the verdict of leading Formula One drivers, who have been left wide-eyed by how their cars are performing on the fast corners at the Northamptonshire track following this week's pre-British Grand Prix test.

In particular, Copse Corner has taken on the mantle as a turn that sorts the men out from the boys - as most drivers tried to build up their confidence through it during the week in a bid to take it completely flat.

In fact, that challenge led to some great rivalry between McLaren duo Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikkonen as each dared the other to try and achieve that feat first.

Late on Wednesday afternoon, Montoya was convinced that he had finally done it - but after intense examination of the telemetry of the lap, Raikkonen's race engineers reckoned they had seen a slight blip on the throttle through the corner and discounted his achievement.

However, by the time the track was well rubbered in on Thursday, those drivers opting to do some low-fuel runs were finally able to take it flat - and thoroughly loved the experience.

Add the Copse challenge to the fact that the circuit is now 75 per cent full-throttle and drivers now do not use the brakes between the final corner at Luffield and Club corner almost halfway around the track, it was no wonder why the drivers were left loving Silverstone so much.

David Coulthard told autosport.com: "We can now go through Copse in seventh gear and it is incredible.

"It has always been a challenge to go into Becketts anyway, and although it is not so physical, it is the speed here. This is what Formula One should be about. It is not like the other clinical circuits out there."

Mark Webber added: "In Copse, it is amazing. If you drop the fuel maybe you can go flat, but it is incredible to go through there. And Stowe Corner, it is fast but not quite flat for us."

Christian Klien claimed that on a low fuel run he had managed to take Copse at full throttle. "We got through some tyres and set-ups, and in the end I did manage to go flat. It is a pretty good first corner."

The increased speed in the quick corners has of course started to take its physical toll on drivers - with Nick Heidfeld having to pull out of this test with a back twinge as a probable result of the increased G-forces.

Raikkonen and Rubens Barrichello both suffered trapped nerves during recent testing at Barcelona, and there is no doubt the drivers are going to face a tough time at some of the tracks with high-speed corners - like Barcelona, Silverstone and Suzuka.

"It is getting physical in the corners," explained McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa. "It was like that in Barcelona. And on this track too we are getting more speed out of the corners.

"We do have the V8 so the lap-time is slower, but in the high speed corners we are definitely faster."