Timo Glock: “I’m really looking forward to racing at Spa this weekend, and I’m sure everyone else is looking forward to getting back on track too after the break. Spa is a fantastic circuit – a challenge both in terms of car set-up and in predicting the weather. It looks that it’s quite likely to be wet at some stage over the weekend, which means that being on the right tyres at the right time will be crucial. This gives us a great opportunity to show how much we’ve developed as a team, and as always we’ll be aiming to outqualify and finish ahead of the other new teams.”
Lucas di Grassi: “This weekend I’ll be racing a Formula One car at Spa for the first time which is going to be an amazing experience and one that I am really well prepared for. We’ve done a lot of laps in the simulator and I finished on the podium here last year in GP2, so I have a really good feeling about the place. We’ve made some big steps forward with the car recently so we are in very good shape. It will be interesting to see what the weather does throughout the weekend and there could be a great opportunity to achieve a surprise result.”
John Booth, Virgin team principal: “It’s been nice to have a bit of a break but we are all raring to get back to racing, especially as this weekend’s race is at Spa. It’s a real racers’ circuit and we are relishing the challenge of our first Grand Prix there. This weekend is the start of the seven-race run towards the end of the season, during which we intend to build on our recent results and performance improvements and deliver on our goal of being the best of the new teams. Both of our drivers have had some great races here in the past and we are looking for a good result with both cars this weekend.”
Nick Wirth, Virgin technical director: “Spa is one of the classic Formula One tracks and a great venue for Virgin Racing to start the final part of our debut season. The extreme 3D nature of the circuit, the long straights plus the wide variety of corner speeds, represents a good set-up challenge. We’ve learned lessons from our experience in Montreal, and have a new updated low-downforce aero package based on the latest developments that we’ve introduced recently. In addition to the new aero parts, we have continued to develop the mechanical package, so we’re looking forward to continuing our recent strong progress. As ever, we’ll be keeping a careful watch on the weather during the weekend, but we should be in good shape, wet or dry.”
