Naoki, do you regard this as a home race?
Naoki Tokunaga: Yes of course. Coming back to Suzuka is always quite a good feeling. Not only because the circuit is very challenging both for the driver and the engineer but also it is my home grand prix. Also the fans, they are fantastic. They are always respectful with us and very happy and they know how to enjoy their race weekend. This year I came here with a little bit extra emotion obviously after the tragedy, so I am quite happy that the fans and the teams all got together again here in Suzuka for this great sporting event.

When Honda and Toyota were involved there were a lot of Japanese people in Formula One, but not so many these days. What is your background and how did you get into Formula One?
NT: I studied in Japan and since then I have always wanted to work in motorsport and in particular Formula One. My career started in an automotive company in Japan, but I always wanted to seek an opportunity in England to get a job and luckily I think it was in 2000 I got the job as a vehicle dynamics engineer at Enstone. It is how my career started and I enjoy the life there. It looks like it is a bit stuck in England but, nonetheless, it is not at all a bad country and I am quite happy being there.

This weekend so far, are you happy to be back on this circuit rather than the slower corners of Singapore.
NT: Yes, this circuit is quite hard on tyres because the tyre energy as a biproduct of the tyre forces are quite high. Especially the front tyres. It is one of the highest circuits of all grand prix tracks. Coupled with this is the abrasive surface of the tarmac. Those combined can make the tyre degradation quite high so I think it is important you set the car balance right to avoid understeer in the high speed corner. We focussed today on getting a good balance and we worked on ride height and spring rates to get an easy to drive car. In P1 the balance is a little bit loose on the rear and poor traction. The good thing is the front of the car was quite strong in mid-corner so we try to keep it and we worked on the rear to get it a little bit better. Also we try a little bit new differential mapping to help traction so in P2 the drivers were generally much happier so I think it was good sessions.

Giorgio, we heard basically the expansion plans of the team at the Italian Grand Prix. Tell us how those are going and in comparison to the RRA, the Resource Restriction Agreement.
Giorgio Ascanelli: Well, we have developed a plan. We will increase our capacity in aerodynamics, of course, and then in more or less every other part of the company. The accent is on aerodynamics and simulation. As per the RRA they are not a consideration yet. I don't think we are going to hit the limits anyway. A good selection of people is ongoing and we will have to try to make the best of it.

Looking forward, when it comes to next year the rules are pretty much the same. But with the exhaust, how big a change is that?
GA: It is a very large change. I think this morning our car was quite better than this afternoon just because we had an evolution of the exhaust which unfortunately broke on us. I don't quite see this happening next year.

Which, you don't see such breakages happening next year?
GA: I think there is going to be more limited space for development.

So there is more work than perhaps would appear to be apparent?
GA: Yes.

James, you have brought a lot of stuff this race. It's an important race for one of your drivers. How has the testing gone during the session?
James Key: It has been okay. We had a lot of new bits. It wasn't just pure aero parts, there were mechanical parts involved in the bits we brought so we were pretty methodical this morning going through everything to check the affects of what we brought to make sure there were no hidden issues. That seemed to be okay. This afternoon we have been working more with the package that we have. The balance of the car needs improving at the moment, but the numbers we are seeing, the data all stacks up to what we expected, which is the most important thing. So I think so far so good but there is certainly some work to do this evening to get more out of it at the moment.

Was that an effect from Force India pushing you or was it already planned?
JK: It was always planned to have an update for Suzuka. We have pushed it fairly hard recently because of Force India's good form of late but this time last year we set out when the major packages we wanted to introduce would be targeted for and Suzuka was the last major package of the year so we always had a plan to come here with some new parts.

Paddy, interesting that both your drivers spoke about better straightline speed now and also a better rear wing for qualifying. How has that happened?
Paddy Lowe: Well we have a new rear wing which is better for qualifying! The principal difference between qualifying and the race is the DRS so it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that that is the reason. We have a wing and we have made a step on the difference between DRS on and off. That was the wing, actually, that we had in Singapore. Originally intended for this race but we managed to bring it early to Singapore.