Theissen happy pressure is off

The German car manufacturer is assured of second place in the constructors' championship now, pending an appeal by McLaren about their exclusion, and Heidfeld is virtually guaranteed to finish fifth.

Those relatively safe positions left Heidfeld admitting earlier in the weekend that he was slightly uninterested that there was no challenge to improve his or his team's position.

But for Theissen, the fun comes from the fact that the pressure has come off him now for the remainder of the season.

"Personally I enjoy this situation," he said when asked by autosport.com about whether or not his feelings mirrored Heidfeld's. "It's a bit less pressure.

"It is as rewarding as it used to be in the first race, and I have to say that it doesn't disturb me to have a bit less pressure than you usually have.

"It is a rare situation we are in. We can win all the coming races and we will finish behind Ferrari, or we can stay at home and still finish behind Ferrari! This is absolutely unusual in F1.

"I am sure we won't get lazy about this. We will make best use of this opportunity to focus on next year's car. The R&D team are strongly focused on the F1.08 already. I hope we can make the best of the situation by preparing in a good way for next year."

Theissen said that the team would likely switch all their focus onto next year's car within the next fortnight.

"We are already close to 100 percent (working on the new car)," he said. "I think in two week's time, with the first overseas races, we will by then have finished with the F1.07."