Will Stevens will race in his first British Grand Prix this weekend for this Manor F1 Team, and admits it will be the highlight of the season with the back marker team.
Stevens, who’s best result of the season so far was a fifteenth place finish in China, feels the British drivers get an extra incentive to do well at Silverstone due to the fan support around the circuit, with the Briton eager to get on track on Friday.
“Silverstone is without doubt the highlight of my debut season and I can’t wait to get the weekend started,” revealed Stevens.
“It’s a busy one, for me and the team, but this is a real opportunity to reward the support of the great British fans, so I’m going to savour every minute.
“As a racing driver, you never need an extra incentive to do well in a Grand Prix, but you do get that at Silverstone as a British driver.
“It’s such a great and historic venue and the scene of some fantastic races in the past 65 years; you can’t help but feel that you’re racing somewhere really special.
“The sight of all those Union Jacks is fantastic and it does make an already fast and exhilarating lap even more enjoyable.”
Team-mate Roberto Merhi has begun to get the upper hand on Stevens in recent races, out-qualifying him in the past two races and grabbing the season’s best result of the year for the team of fourteenth last time out in Austria. The Spanish driver feels he has progressed well this year, and hopes for another positive weekend at Silverstone.
“It’s hard to believe we’re almost at the middle of my first season in Formula 1, but I’m really pleased with how things are going,” reflected Merhi.
“I feel like I’ve made some pretty big steps at every race and hopefully this weekend will be another good one for me and the whole team.
“It’s shaping up to be a very busy home race for us, with lots of partner activity and opportunities to meet the team’s home crowd.
“Silverstone is a great track and I love driving here. It’s really fast and flowing and pretty interesting from a technical point of view. We have some new developments for this weekend so I’m looking forward to seeing what they can bring in terms of our performance.
“I hope we will see both cars take the chequered flag on Sunday and have a fun time until then.”
