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Hungary GP: Friday Press Conference

NEWS STORY
24/07/2009

Christian, winner of the last two races. How has it affected the team and how has it affected Mark Webber? Do you feel a load is off his shoulders?
Christian Horner: Yeah, I mean Germany was a fantastic weekend for Mark Webber. It was his first pole position and his first race win after 130 attempts. It was a big milestone in his career and he was very, very quick throughout the weekend. It was thoroughly deserved the result that he achieved. I think hopefully it will be a weight off his shoulders now. There is a big difference between thinking you can win and knowing you can win and he has crossed that line now, so I am sure we will see hopefully more victories for Mark in the near future.

Is there a different atmosphere in the factory now?
CH: Everybody in the factory was extremely motivated coming into this season. We knew we had a good car. The effort that has gone into the development of this car is nothing short of astounding. The commitment that has been shown by so many unsung heroes back in the factory, in the garage here and at every grand prix so far this year has been quite staggering. I think the challenge we have had this year, combined with new regulations, has also been the lack of testing, so I am sure we, like other teams, are rushing though components at breakneck speed to get them to the car. Even components that were on the drawing board 10 days ago are finding themselves getting onto a car at a grand prix weekend which is unprecedented. The whole development pace is fanatical at the moment but the guys at Milton Keynes have risen to the challenge. The design team led by Adrian (Newey) and his guys have responded brilliantly well and that's resulted in the kind of performances that we have seen in the last couple of races.

You talk about the design team and the pace of development. I am a little surprised that perhaps you haven't got a little update here. I know you had one a couple of races ago but with the beak coming up and then a double header surely it was important to have an update here?
CH: We have got a few little bits here. We are targeting to get something onto the car every single weekend. It is a challenge and the next challenge is obviously the summer break when we are not allowed to do anything, so we have got a week to produce whatever we are going to do for the next race in Valencia. But we have a few bits and pieces here. This weekend is obviously a big weekend. Theoretically this is Brawn territory and we are going to do our best to take the fight to them but there are a few other cars that also will go pretty quick this weekend.

How do you feel about the balance between Brawn and yourselves over the last couple of races? Is it because they weren't suited to the conditions but you had made a step forward?
CH: I was very happy with the balance at the last two races. I think that yes, for sure, we have made a step. I think they have a great car and they started the year and came out of the blocks very quickly. I think over the last few races we have made steps. We have understood the double diffuser more and more and I think more than anything that has added performance to the car. We saw the first iteration of that in Monte Carlo, the second in Silverstone, so as we understand more of that philosophy it is just opening up more and more development avenues. I think that will continue throughout the rest of the season.

Franz, first of all I think one of the things you have got to do is building up your own technical department. How is that coming along?
Franz Tost: It is coming along very well I must say. We have currently around 220 employees. We have started to run the wind tunnel in Bicester and in about two or three weeks we will have the CFD installed in Faenza and so far everything is to the time scale.

The modifications here. Did they come from that group of people?
FT: No, the modifications here are coming from Milton Keynes, from Red Bull Technology. We are still getting the drawings from them because this is for this year's car. Regarding the designer group which is working in Faenza they are doing the job for next year's car.

And how have those modifications worked out today?
FT: They worked out well and I think we made a step forward. We were out with some fuel in the car today and I expect that tomorrow at least we will be in the second qualifying.

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