Q: It was a tough weekend in Budapest, but Spa offers the perfect chance for the team to return to its early-season form…
Eric Boullier: Yes, Budapest was evidently a very testing weekend for us; it was in fact one of the most difficult weekends we could have had before the August factory shutdown. Having said that, we’re approaching the Belgian Grand Prix with some developments to the car which, we hope, will benefit us greatly. In addition, our upgraded windtunnel [now 60 per cent] has been fully operational since the beginning of June. I’m confident that we will now start to see the effect of these car updates, because we want a result that will put the smile back on our faces.
Q: What are the upgrades we can expect to see?
EB: It’s a complete package including a new floor, a reworked exhaust and a different rear suspension arrangement; it really will be quite comprehensive and I hope we will see results from these enhancements.
Q: The team took its summer break – are you feeling revitalised?
EB: Definitely, it’s good to have this pause because the season starts very early. The car is assembled in January, followed by all the testing and travel so it is good for the guys to have this rest for a fortnight in August. It’s good to be refreshed, to recharge the batteries for what lies ahead and to come back and finish the business.
Q: What are your expectation levels going into this grand prix?
EB: Our expectations are still to finish with both cars in the top 10. We need to catch up with Mercedes, who have replaced us in fourth position. In Spa we will see if the upgrades are enough to do this, but I hope they will be.
Q: Eight races left – what can you hope for from the remainder of the season?
EB: We are now at a point where we switch a lot of our resources to next year’s car, which of course adds new challenges. Crucially, we need to see what impact our upgrades have at the forthcoming races at Spa, Monza and Singapore. It is this, above all else, that will be the key indicator in how fruitful the remainder of our season is. We’re back and we’re looking forward to finding out.
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