13/07/2004

Olivier Panis reflects on Silverstone

I like the Silverstone circuit. It would be interesting to see what kind of speeds we would get on the circuit the way it used to be with the flat-out Club and Woodcote corners! But times and circuits change. Silverstone though retains a lot of its character. Racing drivers all like fast challenging corners and the Becketts complex at Silverstone is one of the most exhilarating sections to drive on any track that we race on.

It's the kind of place where if everything is going well you get into a rhythm and you just kind of flow. That is very satisfying. But you have to be careful of the wind. Silverstone was an old World War 2 airfield and like all of those was built in a very flat exposed place. It is therefore susceptible to any winds. It is also quite a high-speed track and so the wind as at Barcelona can have a big influence on the car's handling.

With the car that we took to Silverstone I was expecting that the track layout would help the performance of the car but unfortunately things did not run as I had expected with trouble in both qualifying and the race through absolutely no fault of my own.

My actual qualifying lap was very good so I was very upset with the situation on my "in" lap. There was a communications mix-up with the team and I didn't know until the last minute that Massa was coming. As soon as I saw him in my mirrors I did all that I could to keep out of his way. It was certainly not intentional. I apologised to him afterwards but I don't think I held him up at all. I was annoyed that the stewards decided to delete my time as I had pushed so hard on my lap to get the best out of the car.

Regardless of where I start on the grid I never give up and enter each race with full motivation even in the most difficult of circumstances. I gave it everything I could. After the inconclusive practice session on Friday when we had to evaluate our tyres we decided as a team to opt for the softer of the two Michelin tyres but they didn't really work too well for me in the first stint. I passed the Minardis on the first lap but then I got stuck behind Nick Heidfeld's Jordan. And then I had my problem with the fire extinguisher which put me out of the race.

The extinguisher just exploded in the car just after my first scheduled stop. The spray went everywhere. It was all over the steering wheel all over my visor and I couldn't see a thing. I ended up in the gravel trap. An unfortunate end to a difficult weekend.

I think the whole team is waiting for a turn in fortuned and hopefully Hockenheim will be it. We have been looking forward to getting the revised TF104B car for a while now and Hockenheim will be the first time we race it. A lot of hard work has gone into the car from everyone at the factory and hopefully it will allow us to make some progress. Most of the modifications centre on the aerodynamic performance which we have been lacking this year. However we will have to wait and see what happens over the weekend and assess the situation after the first practice sessions on Friday. We will have time for a quick shakedown of the TF104B at Jerez this week but many of the aero parts will be seen for the first time at the Hockenheim race weekend. We should not forget that Hockenheim is not the end of the development process as the team is still flat-out producing parts for the rest of the season.