An important race for all of Renault - Fisico

Giancarlo Fisichella and the whole Renault F1 Team are looking forward to their upcoming home Grand Prix at Magny-Cours. Fisichella is third in the World Championship race and hopes to do well at this 'special' race.

"It’s a special special. I am very happy to be working with Renault – and to know that I am staying with the team for the future. Fernando and I both go to Magny-Cours with the possibility of winning, and it will be an important race for Renault on a lot of levels. We have a lot of fans there, all the race team members from Viry-Châtillon are very motivated, and the stands are full of people from Viry and other Renault factories. They will all be pushing with us on Sunday, and we will be doing our maximum to win the race."

"It was a really impressive place, just totally different to what we are used to at the Grand Prix weekend! You could really feel the passion of the fans, a lot of warmth coming from them, and see their enthusiasm for the cars too. It was great to be part of Renault’s celebrations of 100 years in Grand Prix racing – I knew that there was a lot of history at Renault from the 1970s and 1980s, but I didn’t know that it went back a hundred years… It would be really nice to win the centenary race this weekend."

"Most of all, I think it is quite a hard circuit for the tyres. We have one very high speed corner at turn 3, but I don’t think that is the most important one on the circuit. There are a lot of slow-speed corners everywhere and they are where you gain or lost a lot of time. We have to find a good mechanical set-up to have good levels of grip in the corners, and traction on the exits of the slow speed turns. The traction makes it quite hard for the tyres too, and we have to be careful of rear tyre wear in the race – especially if it’s very hot."

"I had a really strong weekend in Indianapolis. I had a good feeling with the car straight away but even so, I left with mixed feelings. I felt that I did the maximum possible in finishing third, but we were still a long way off Ferrari. So for Magny-Cours, my goal is to maintain my personal level of performance – but from a position where we can beat both Ferraris. The team has been working hard to develop the car all season, and we have another engine step this weekend in France which will give us a boost. I am optimistic that Michelin will have a perfect tyre, so we want a weekend without problems to be able to give our fans they victory they want to see."