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Williams optimistic for Silverstone

Williams are hopeful of an improved showing at this weekend's British GP with the team planning to introduce a raft of upgrades at Silverstone.

Team confident car will suit Northamptonshire circuit

Williams are hopeful of an improved showing at this weekend's British GP with the team planning to introduce a raft of upgrades at Silverstone. Although the team's performance at Valencia was overshadowed by the furore over Pastor Maldonado's barge into the side of Lewis Hamilton's McLaren, with the Venezuelan subsequently stripped of tenth place in favour of team-mate Bruno Senna, the fact that Maldonado qualified third on the grid has provided Williams with plenty of reason for optimism ahead of their home race. The team will be adding further improvements to their car this weekend and are also encouraged by Pirelli's tyre selection of the hard and soft compounds being the same choice that was used for the Spanish GP earlier this season when Maldonado finally ended Williams' long victory drought. "I think the track will suit our car because it's similar to Barcelona and it's also very fun to drive with sections like Maggots and Becketts which really test you as a driver. The pace of the car in Valencia was very promising and we have a number of updates expected for this race as well so hopefully we can give the home fans a good result," said Maldonado. Team-mate Senna is also confident that Silverstone's characteristics will suit his car. "Silverstone is one of my favourite tracks because it's high speed and flows really well. Our car has good pace at the high down force tracks and is good on high speed corners as well so it should suit Silverstone." The one great unknown, however, is the weather. "The long range forecast doesn't look particularly promising, predicting a reasonable chance of rain and strong winds throughout the weekend, which could lead to an eventful qualifying and race," confirmed Chief Operations Engineer Mark Gillan. "We will also bring an updated aerodynamic package to the event which is imperative given the importance of aerodynamic efficiency around this track and how tight the grid is at present."

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