My first question is can you give a run down on how you feel your team has performed in the first half of this championship? Dr Mallya, can I ask you to start.
Vijay Mallya: Well, it is appropriate that you asked me to start considering I am playing catch up. As you know I inherited a team that was not very competitive in previous years. F1 has got a lot more competitive in 2008. You are fighting for fractions of a second and in this context we have certainly improved. Obviously the question is ‘have we improved enough to score any points.’ We have given it all we reasonably could for 2008 and we have only one more element of development to come which is a seamless-shift gearbox which we hope to introduce for Hungary. Beyond that I have decided that we will now concentrate on the 2009 car. We have at least shown to ourselves and to our fans in India that we are capable of improvement. Now whether that improvement is enough or not is a secondary question. We have improved and we have the capability of improving. Hungary is the last stop for us in terms of development for 2008 and then all the focus is on 2009 when we sure hope to score some points.

The car obviously performed very well in testing here. How do you feel about that?
VM: That is very encouraging but at the end of the day it is tomorrow in qualifying and the race itself that really is the proof of the pudding.

The other point you make is about stopping development and concentrating on next year. How much are you also concentrating on building up the team, as one or two people would suggest it had been run down a bit and needs massive investment?
VM: That’s a fact. Things were sort of run down in terms of budget and resources but we bumped it up somewhat for 2008. We have an increased budget for 2009. It is a new set of regulations as we all know and as far as the human resources are concerned we have added two senior engineers to our design team. We will add as many as we need to. Of course we also have the support of EADS who have also dedicated about 10 people to us concentrating mainly on aerodynamics and CFD where we need to play real catch up because when they first came and assessed the team’s capabilities prior to the start of the 2008 season they told me quite categorically that we were three years behind the game, so we are looking forward to their active support and help. We have three wind tunnels running now, one of our own and two that are leased facilities, so we are giving it all we can.

That sounds good from an investment point of view and ramping up the whole programme.
VM: When you have to compete with teams with significantly higher budgets and vast resources you have at least to step up to the plate, otherwise you won’t get anywhere.

Norbert, three wins out of the nine races so far. What is your appraisal at the half-way mark in the championship?
Norbert Haug: First of all I think we all have to admit that it has been a great season. Of course we should have scored some more points. There were quite a few opportunities when we didn’t take the points that were available to us. But I think lots of people can state the same. I think it is the first time in history, since 50 years, that three guys are on a par after half the season which is quite remarkable. I think that is great sport, great entertainment, and it will help to sell additional tickets here in Hockenheim which is important for the venue. And so far I think it is a real positive remark on the first half of the season. Of course I am a little bit sad thinking about Canada, thinking about the race, but this is the story. I am sure Stefano has similar feelings on some other races. But we have produced great sport and a thrilling season with great races like we have had in Monaco and Silverstone. There were some really good races this year when it was not very clear who would win. We have had a phase in F1 when it was quite clear that if one guy or probably a second guy did not make a mistake that most of the time the chances were high that he would win. That has changed a lot and I think that is very positive indeed.

What are your feelings about Heikki’s performances? Has he been very unlucky or has he exceeded your expectations?
NH: He was quick. You saw the fuel load in Silverstone when he did his first pole position. He has the speed. These are small details, but I think in the rain he was just struggling a little bit with the rear end of his car and if you do not have the full confidence under these circumstances then you are just history. But if you can beat everybody with a comparable fuel load by quite a margin as in Silverstone you need to be a very good racing driver and that’s what I think Heikki is. It started with the safety car in Melbourne, he had an accident in Barcelona which wasn’t his fault. He had a cut tyre in Turkey. There were a lot of opportunities where he could have scored more points but this is the name of the game. We inside the team know that he is a great driver, a great guy and an absolute team player, like Lewis too, so I think that helps us a lot. The team is very balanced, very focussed, very determined and this is very, very positive.

When you look at Lewis’s performances, particularly in comparison to last year when he had an absolute dream start to his F1 career, how do you see his performances this year?
NH: I see a positive. You cannot continue like he started. It is a big, big surprise when you come into F1 and do nine podiums in a row. In fairness, the 10th race last year was the Nürburgring, if you remember, when he had a problem with the wheel gun. It was not Lewis’s problem otherwise speed-wise he could have continued as the potential was there. I just think that the statistics say it all. He has done 26 races so far, in 13 he was first or second, I think, and three or four times he was third. 16 times on the podium in 26 races. I think if you only have 10 races where you did not finish on the podium that is quite remarkable. Of course he is criticized, of course he is observed in a very special way, but I think he reacted brilliantly at Silverstone and we know that he can do it. If he had not delivered at Silverstone then he would have delivered here or in the next race. I think that is what a good team is about and that you support each other and of course he did some mistakes like in Canada but he will learn from them. But his statistics after one-and-a-half years of F1 are just brilliant.