Tiago, what was the reaction in Portugal after the race two weeks ago?
Tiago Monteiro: The reaction was a bit crazy. Of course, everybody had seen the circumstances and the reasons for this result, but when it's the first Portuguese driver that gets to the podium, everybody forgot about the circumstances and it was just a crazy crazy atmosphere. It reminded everybody about the Euro Cup when there was this big national enthusiasm and since Saturday, when I came back from testing, I have been in Portugal for some PR, I've been doing TV shows, radio, conferences, spending some time with sponsors, and it's been really really busy. It's a great atmosphere, everybody's happy and excited and again, as I said before, I need to take advantage of this opportunity and enjoy it as much as I can.

You mentioned the testing, how is the latest version of the car?
TM: It's not ready yet, I would say. We had some teething probleMS: cooling in particular so we are going to be using it as the third car here and at Silverstone and then we have another test at Paul Ricard after Silverstone and we're hoping then to work on the performance. But we're going to use those two Fridays to work on the reliability and hopefully we will be using the new car for Hockenheim.

Now the drivers have put out a statement that has been signed by 19 drivers but seven have not signed. You're one of them. Can you tell us why you haven't signed?
TM: The main reason is that I haven't heard of or seen this paper. I read about it in the press but nobody contacted us or asked our opinion, so that's probably the main reason for it.

Jarno, first of all, a good result here last year. What are your feelings coming here?
Jarno Trulli: Always good, I always like Magny Cours, even if last year the memories weren't the best but it was still an experience that I have now. I have a special feeling for Magny Cours because I was here with Prost, then I continued with Renault so I always have a lot of supporters for the French Grand Prix so it's always nice to be back.

You have a new third driver in Olivier Panis; does that make a lot of difference in your preparations?
JT: I think Olivier is an experienced driver who will do a very good job, as well as Ricardo (Zonta) has done in the past. So it's a pleasure for me to have Olivier on board again, on the track. I think even for him it's nice to be back after a long time, especially here in front of his home crowd.

Now you had your first pole position with Toyota at the last race, but be honest with us, was there a little bit of a gamble on low fuel?
JT: No, not really, to be honest, because we didn't know what was going to happen on Sunday, so we were not sure. The decision (not to race) was basically taken on Sunday, probably just before the race, and you just go out in qualifying and try to do your best and then think about tomorrow's race, and this is what happened. I did an extremely good lap, everything went fine for me and for the team and the car. Obviously I'm sure there were some people heavier than me but I wasn't so light.

Kimi, you could say you lost ten points in the last race. Is that the way you look at it? How do you see it?
Kimi Raikkonen: I guess it was disappointing but in the end, under the circumstances, there was nothing I could have done so I listened to people what we should do and that was the decision.

But looking at it from a championship point of view, obviously Michael's got ten points closer to you.
KR: Yeah, that's true, but of course every race we don't race is not going to help us because we need as many races as possible to try to catch up Renault and Alonso but that's the situation and we will try to do it here.

What about this circuit, you've had quite a good finishing record here?
KR: Yeah, it's quite a nice circuit, it's a little bit different than it used to be, but OK, last year maybe it wasn't our strongest race, even though we had a new car here. I think the car should be good. We have some new parts and a new engine for this race, so I'm looking forward to it.

Now the FIA has reserved some dates for next year: 20 races next year, including three races on successive weekends. What do you feel about that as a driver?
KR: I haven't seen any dates or anything, but I don't think it makes much difference because we would testing anyhow between races if we don't have back-to-back. For me, it doesn't make a difference.

Fernando, your feelings about the last race, in a way losing ten points to Michael?
Fernando Alonso: Again, it was a difficult weekend for everybody and not a fantastic feeling when you have to come in to the pits, but those were the circumstances. It's true that we lost ten points but as Kimi said, always when we arrive at a Grand Prix we are thinking of points and we need to race and score points which is the main thing over the weekend so hopefully this Sunday will be a good race for us.

Can you tell us about your time since Indianapolis?
FA: Yeah. I had three days testing in Jerez. On the day in the middle I went to Paris for a promotion and at the weekend I was in England at Goodwood. It was a busy week, but now we are ready for this July with four races and concentrating on the championship.