'Everyone's talking about Lewis'
The British Grand Prix is upon us and Lewis-mania really has hit the country. I've not seen anything like it since when Nigel Mansell was winning or driving for Ferrari. Thanks to Lewis, Formula 1 is once again what everyone's talking about in pubs and bars and that's a great thing.
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The home support for Lewis will be huge but I don't think this will give him any extra motivation for doing well. You're there to do your job and when you're in the car, you're thinking about that and that's all. There were a few Irish flags and Northern Irish flags for me but I was also racing when there were a few English drivers about and they had a lot more support!
There's an extra twist surrounding this weekend's race and that's the espionage furore surrounding McLaren and Ferrari. It doesn't sound totally sensible, does it? I don't know whether the allegations are true or not but the rewards in Formula 1 are huge so maybe that could explain something. As far as I know, it didn't go on when I was racing but then again, that wasn't for me to worry about and it's certainly nothing that should get to Lewis or distract him from the job in hand, which is winning on the race track.
I didn't particularly like Silverstone, to be perfectly honest. The crowd was fantastic but I never really liked the circuit itself. The changes they made spoiled it for me. Stowe used to be a great corner and they changed it. Club used to be an amazing corner and they changed it. They keep slowing everything down and making it worse. Personally, I always used to love Brands Hatch. It's not Formula 1 standard now days but it's still a great circuit.
Ferrari did make a big jump in progress at Magny-Cours but I expect McLaren to come back at Silverstone and I don't see any reason why Lewis can't get the job done. The team's exceptional and he keeps doing it. But I'm going to stick my neck out and go for another Ferrari 1-2 with Kimi winning from Felipe and Lewis Hamilton third because it's going to be wet!
Eddie Irvine.
5th July, 2007
