Panis: It's nice to get the family together.

Held in the heart of the British motorsport industry, Silverstone is the home Grand Prix for many F1 teams, and like their racing compatriots, Lucky Strike BAR Honda are looking forward to getting on track in front of their home crowd this weekend.

With just a few miles to travel from their Brackley base, the British Grand Prix gives many of the 360 strong BAR workforce who are based there the rare chance to get closer to the sharp end over the race weekend and see the action out on track.

"Silverstone is a great and unique opportunity for the people at the factory to get closer to the action", comments Olivier Panis. "It's nice to get the family together!"

Team-mate Jacques Villeneuve also appreciates the fact that this is a special race for the entire Brackley based team. "It may not be my home race, but it is really special for the factory and so it's important to race here," he said.

With the infamous British weather meaning anything can happen come race day, the British Grand Prix is also anything but predictable.

"The fact that the weather's so changeable actually makes the race more exciting," explains David Lloyd, Race Engineer to Olivier Panis. "It might rain during qualifying or the race - you just don't know. If it does rain it always makes it more challenging. It also means that the front runners don't necessarily get it right and that gives us a better chance of racing for points."

While it may only be a short hop from the factory to the paddock for the 70 strong race crew, in terms of logistics, this is a race weekend like any other - if not slightly more complicated than your average European Grand Prix.

"We try and treat this just like any other race," explains Team Co-ordinator Martin Pople. "It's easy to think that you can leave stuff behind or forget things and then just bring it up later in a van but that's not the case. We've got three trucks that carry out all the equipment to the races for us - and this race is no different. If we had 15 vans bringing 10 tonnes of freight up from the factory in dribs and drabs it would be a logistical nightmare, so the fact we're so close to Brackley doesn't make a big difference to the way we run things here. Obviously we get a lot more people coming up from the factory to see us here though, and because it's our home race, it's always a bit more special."

Chief Mechanic Alastair Gibson hopes this weekend will be extra special for him too. With his wife Carolyn expecting their first baby any day now, he's been priming his pit stop crew in case of his sudden departure. While they're used to running through contingencies for everything from bad weather to an accident in the pit lane, this is the first time they've had to factor a baby into the equation. Should Alastair be absent come race day, the lollipop mantle will be handed to JV's number one mechanic Barry Gough.