Q: Onto another subject, to all of you, once again: there are proposals to change the format of a race weekend. How would that affect your tasks, particularly the design of a car?
RB: I think there's a fairly critical decision on the format of racing which is this concept of keeping the fuel for qualifying and racing because that, by definition, ties you into a one lap qualifying, because you couldn't logically have a series of qualifying laps and have fuel for qualifying and the race. So if you follow a little bit of a logical diagram, I don't think the decision that has to be considered is whether the fuel for qualifying and the race is a good thing, because it ties you into several things. I think the unfortunate thing about it is that it was perceived as a way to give lesser teams a bit of a moment in the spotlight because they could run light to succeed in qualifying etc. I don't see that. I think they're still sensible enough to realize that would be a very short term gain. And I think after a year of racing this year, we will find next year that everyone's following the same pattern of qualifying weight and race weight. I'm not sure that that side of it is working so well
because what did happen last year, even though it was an unusual year from our side, you started the race with several cars on different strategies and different types or tyre and so on, you saw a lot of overtaking at the beginning of the race because cars were on different strategies. You don't get that any more. By definition, the race starts with the teams in the order of their relative speeds so the guy at the front, even more so than it used to be, the guy at the front's got a certain level of fuel, a certain speed, and the guy behind him is a little bit slower and so on and so on. You can't apply different strategies. The problem is that affects the design of the car. Your original question was how is the design of the car influenced by the format and that's the main thing, because the fuel capacity is determined by the regulation we have and I think people will be moving towards small capacity cars and then it will be very difficult to reverse their concept and I think that's the first thing: we have to decide if it's working, because once we can decide if that's working, then it either opens up or closes down a number of other possibilities.

I think the jury's out on the one lap qualifying. I have to say I was very keen on it, I thought it would be a good move but I'm not so sure now that it's been, certainly for us, has been so successful as a spectacle. I'm sure the smaller teams get a bit more TV coverage, but in terms of a spectacle, it doesn't seem to be capturing the public's imagination. I think the one lap qualifying needs to be considered - whether it's been a success or not.

Q: Another question to you all: how do you find Silverstone as a facility to work in?
RB: I think the facilities are very good. The size of the garage and all of that side of things is excellent. I don't know if you experienced it, but it was a bit difficult getting in this morning, on the A43, so not all the problems have been solved, but as a facility for the teams, certainly for us, to work in, it's as good as any other circuit, no doubt.

Q: Ross, there is a rumour going round that Bridgestone have sent a letter to Ferrari asking Felipe Massa to be taken off tyre testing. It sounds like you have never heard that one before, but is that the truth?
RB: I don't know who writes your questions for you but you need to get a better scriptwriter because I think that is the least factual question of all the ones you have asked. Felipe is a very good test driver, he gives good information and, in fact, we are lucky in that we have four drivers that give very good information and we have very little preference over who does what. There is often an occasion when we are picking a final tyre for a race and we will ask a race driver, or both race drivers, to make that final decision, and that is what happened last week. But if you will excuse my language, that is complete bullshit.

Questions from the Floor

Q: Ross, Rubens has been struggling a little bit. What has been happening with him?
RB: It has just been a few unfortunate circumstances and there is a very fine line between success and failure in this business as we have seen from last year to this year with our team. There are far more people capable of filling the top six positions in the race so if you make a little mistake or error at the moment then you lose it. Last year, Rubens started this race in last position and came second. You can't do that at the moment and if you have a glitch or a problem then you are out of the running. He has had a few little unfortunate events. What often happens is it seems to fall to one driver in a team and it looks very odd but I think all the things that have happened.. his qualifying at the last race, there was an adjustment made between warm-up and the race (means qualifying) that was not correct and that caught him out in qualifying. So then he started a bit further back than he should have been and his race became very difficult. There is a very fine line at the moment and it is a more normal year in that respect. Rubens is a very good driver and he is obviously being compared to Michael, who is exceptional, exceptional for the last several generations, so he has a tough job in that respect but we are happy with Rubens' performance and if we get our package more competitive then Rubens would be doing a similar or better performance than he did last year.