Chester: Barcelone will be an interesting weekend

What can the team expect from Barcelona and will we see a traditional big upgrade package for this race?

It will be an interesting weekend as many teams will bring decent upgrades to the first European race of the season and we are working on bringing a reasonably significant package in terms of bodywork upgrades ourselves. There’s a certain amount of anticipation to see what everyone turns up with. In terms of our expectations, there’s nothing to say that we shouldn’t have another strong race in Barcelona, just as we did in China and Bahrain.

Last year we saw a strong qualifying performance from the team in Barcelona in what was generally a very character-building season - why the ‘freak’ strong result?

Indeed, we did have a good weekend last year in Barcelona. The E22 was good in high speed corners but not so good in low speed corners. This year’s car is much more consistent in all corners. The drivers are complimentary about the handling of the car finding it much easier to drive on the limit and we seem to be in a similar position at each track we have visited so far this year. It’s far more what we all want from a car.

Are the practice sessions treated any differently with the sheer breadth of knowledge that teams and drivers have of the circuit?

Not so much. We tend to spend a lot of the first session checking out new parts and working on new ideas. This is now common practice for us on Friday mornings. Barcelona tends to be that bit easier as the drivers and the team know the circuit so well. Also, Romain, Pastor and Jolyon have all come to Enstone these last few days for simulator sessions based on the track. The work we are doing is proving very useful for the team and is great for pre-event preparations.

What do we know of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and what challenges does it present?

It’s a circuit that needs really strong downforce which really is key in Barcelona with so many high speed corners. The third sector is slightly different in that the car needs to be able to ride the kerbs well through the chicanes. That said, you can’t get away from the fact that the main element is the amount of downforce you have on the car.

Romain’s had two P7 finishes now - how can we help vault him and Pastor further up the order?

It’s been good for Romain to have had these two strong finishes. He has a car that he’s happy with and a good solid baseline in terms of set-up and performance. Pastor will benefit from a clean race to collect points. Both cars are capable of strong results. For stronger finishes than P7 we need to continue to develop the car to make it more competitive: put more downforce on the car and continue with our upgrade programme.

How competitive is the field overall this season?

Certainly, it’s pretty competitive in the midfield and fighting to be at the head of the chasing pack. Mercedes are still the team to beat this season although Ferrari is giving them a chase at the moment. There is a fairly big gap to Willliams who are followed by Red Bull and us - there is a smaller gap there and we can race them.