Schumi gunning for his 80th victory - 8th July 21:26pm GMT

By the time Michael Schumacher arrived for his press conference this afternoon, the British weather was doing its worse, with dark skies and pouring with rain. Would the reigning champion enjoy it if this weekend provided the first wet race of the year? "From what I understand, the weather is supposed to improve by Sunday, so I have not considered a wet race," he replied. Looking back at the Magny-Cours race, the German would have asked if he would have preferred to have passed Alonso on the track, rather than take the lead through the pit stops. "In the end, the important thing is to win," he said with a laugh. "We were both doing similar speeds, so it would have been very difficult to pass him on the track. I could have won on a three stop, but probably only if I had been in front of him."

Given that the Ferrari man has now won some grands prix as many as seven times, his record at Silverstone is less impressive, but Schumacher is not concerned. "I have won twice here and I would like to leave with another victory this weekend." Two statistics left the series leader unimpressed, as is always the case with numbers: firstly, if he wins it would be his 80th victory and this will be his 13th start at Silverstone, traditionally an unlucky number. "But the race is not on a Friday so it does not matter," he joked. The British media are putting Jenson Button in the spotlight this weekend and Michael was asked if this was a help for a driver to have the crowd and the media behind you. "It is not the same as at a football match, because when you are in an F1 car, you have a rather noisy engine behind you and a helmet to cut out even more noise, so it is not like hearing the crowd on a soccer pitch. Home support can motivate you or make you nervous, depending on how you deal with it."

Finally a comment on discussions that F1 is getting boring. "I don't think that is the case," affirmed the German. "If you make the comparisons between MotoGP and Formula 1 it is the same as comparing Basketball with Football. In MotoGP you have a lot of overtaking and in Basketball you have a lot of points scored, but in the end, it is F1 and football that continues to have the biggest audience. I think it is best to keep the sport uncomplicated and straightforward."